OEG: A Black Heart's Ascension
by HunterXKiller87
Summary: Side Story from OEG: set in the beginning of chapter 148. Noire, whilst she is in Leanbox and reeling from the events of Halo Mountain, is called back to Lastation to deal with some business. Whilst she is there, something happens which takes her on one HELL of a wild ride.
1. Chapter 1

**This here, is a side story to my main OEG fanfiction, 'A Black Heart's Ascension'. This side story starts after chapter 148 of the main storyline and will cover the events that Noire herself goes through here in order to A: get stronger, B: go through some changes herself, and C: add additional content which doesn't need to be read to understand the main plotline, but reading it will not be pointless. This is something that doesn't need to fit inside the main plot, so thats why its not a part of OEG.**

**As mentioned, this is a Noire side story, and as such she will be the main protag here (only I hope to make it as good if not better than hyperdevotion Noire). I was inspired by To aru index with all its spinoffs and main titles to making this, but don't worry, i'll post a timeline for these ones so nobody gets confused on my profile. This is also a little something I wanna do to show that i'm not dead, and that despite the updates for the main story slowing down due to circumstances I'm still working on it. Therefore, if you wanna read this you can, let me know what you think and enjoy the reading.**

* * *

**Chapter 1 - A Black Heart**

The cold, windy afternoons which came to the denizens residing within the Capital, SONY, of the land of Black Regality didn't surprise anyone who walked it's streets. Streets which, even now, were filled to the brim with different people, all bustling about to get to their jobs after having their lunch breaks. Some would go to their ow corporations to serve as the small-time, minor cogs which kept those great machines going for another day, while others would return to their positions as advisors or heads of these various companies to resume work on leading them down the direction of progress. Teenagers would linger about for a small bit, before the local law enforcement would hurry them along to wherever they needed to go, be it school, college or university. Nobody respected laziness in Lastation, after all they usually boast about being able to do practically everything. One could even see some members of the Basilicom staff, mixing and mingling with the populace for their work in seeing how things were progressing.

Though, this didn't bother one person who walked down the streets towards a certain destination.

Black hair held in two waist-length ponytails by two blue ribbons with black trims. Ruby red eyes glimmering despite there being no sunlight. An outfit consisting of dark blue, red, white and gold accents, a white multi layered skirt which had a large blue ribbon behind it with a smaller version around her neck connected to a black and white collar. Legs concealed by thigh length boots with silver medium heels alongside white stockings which connected to her waist via garters which went inside her skirt…

Yeah, to those who've read the main story, you all know who this is.

"Well, looks like things are doing okay, as expected of my Lastation…" the girl commented to herself, a smug smile forming on her lips as she beheld the sights. Flicking a strand of her hair and putting it on her hip, the girl continued in a proud, haughty manner. "Vert's had so many troubles over in Leanbox, whilst Lastation's going stronger than ever. Makes one realize who the better CPU is."

Looking around the street she walked along, Noire CPU of Lastation: the Land of Black Regality, also known as Black Heart when in her Goddess form, eyed the populace as they went about their day, and despite the smugness she had just demonstrated, a soft comforting feeling spreading throughout their chest. 'So far, everyone looks like they are doing okay…' the black-haired woman thought in relief, her smile soon switching to one of motherly fondness… one which curled into a frown a second later though. Her eyes reflected this, carrying the glimmer of anxiety and other complex emotions which surged through her chest. 'Though that's only on the surface. I'm sure that everyone here feels the intensity of the situation even if they don't realize it yet…'

It hadn't been that long since the battle at Halo Mountain, only about a week, and despite everything that went down there, life only continued on. She had heard how Neptune and her party had split up to do their own individual training, some with others and the rest on their own. She'd heard how Compa had stuck to Team RAIL, though that honestly didn't surprise her considering what had happened with her humanity being gone and all. "I hope Compa's going to be okay with this. She's a strong woman deep down, but still…" Noire muttered, thinking about the cream haired Nurse.

Learning that there had once been a race of beings who existed alongside the CPUs in the past, to help aid them in their rules like secretaries or enforcers by given powers in the forms of these 'Sephira Crystals', Noire didn't know how to feel about them.

On one hand, she wouldn't mind having such a being, a Spirit, helping her out when she needed it (not like she'll admit that to anyone in particular), since they could really help the military keep the peace by limiting the progress of the Abnormals. More Dungeons like the ones Team RAIL had cleared kept appearing ever since Neptune's party had left for Planeptune, forcing the Spec Ops branch of her Nation's Guild forces to go in to try to keep them clear of any Monsters which ended up inside. Abnormal Dungeons seemed to be solely unique to Lastation though, she didn't know why as they hadn't been cropping up on other Nations. Instead, Planeptune largely retained its semi peaceful state, whilst Leanbox seemed to be suffering from countless demonic forces invading its land through these so called 'Hellgates'. Hellgates which DID also appear on Planeptune, but they got dealt with swiftly so these so called 'Forces of Chaos' hadn't gotten much traction. She wasn't so sure about Lowee though.

Then, there were the other feelings she had, the ones which advised caution in dealing with such a being. Not for just herself as a Goddess, as in terms of strength a Goddess surpassed these so-called 'Spirits', but also because of the people. Noire would no longer kid herself, not with what she now knew, and as such she could definitely see the people of Gamindustri reacting very negatively to this kind of being. Not just because of zealous religious fanatics (though that WAS a big reason), but also because it implied that any human worthy could become a Spirit. This meant those who could would be manipulated into serving humanity's interests rather than that of the CPUs, and she NOW had a good idea of humanity's two-faced nature.

"Now that I think of it, IF could be put on the same boat as Compa…" Noire remarked in realization as she glanced up at the cloudy skies above, images of a certain brunette appearing in her mind. Images which showed her to be slicing through Abnormals and Demons by the dozens with relative ease, then she compared the brunette with Compa to find their situations being quite similar.

Now don't get her wrong, on the grounds of IF, she didn't know all that much since she didn't hear much that was outstanding from her, so she likely was doing her own thing too. Noire recalled the moment when she had been infected with the C Virus formula by Ganache during that battle in the Zombie Invasion, she recalled just how depressing and desperate everyone had been just to try and save her, yet they didn't know what to do. Ganache had even fanned the flames by exclaiming how there wasn't a cure developed for this kind of virus, just like the little sack of garbage that he was… a sack of garbage whom had wiped the floor with them earlier on. If it hadn't been for a combination of Nico and Histoire, IF surely would have had to have been killed so she didn't hurt anyone else. Now, she has to live as a viral biological apocalypse, with powers she never wanted to have but now had anyways. Noire could only imagine how she must feel about her new situation, no doubt existed in her mind that IF wanted payback for her state.

The same could be said for Neptune, too with regards to training alone, and… Nico…

Oh, where could she BEGIN with him?

Noire shook her head as she saw some Agents pass by, Spec Ops she realized when she recognized their faces from a couple files she'd read alongside some successful Abnormal Dungeon Quest reports. Just seeing their faces though reminded her of what she had learned about Nico and some of the history she hadn't been aware of since returning here. Stuff like… that, Noire could DEFINITELY see as something to be kept hidden, especially by the guilty parties. Since it had been so long now though, it likely will be impossible for those parties to be judged for their crimes. The act of killing children, regardless of their state of being, painted them in a terrible picture regardless of their intentions behind it, and Noire wanted OH so badly to punish them. Just how horrible could someone be? In a bid to even satisfy some sort of morbid curiosity, Noire had even managed to dig up videos of these happenings recorded by everyday civilians, and… what she had seen… yeah, it nearly caused her to throw up in disgust.

'No wonder he doesn't trust easily, something like that SURELY would traumatize someone for life, and according to Mrs Dawson those videos were the MILDER side of things which befell those poor kids…' Noire thought, doing her best to retain a sense of calmness about her but inside, well an inferno of rage wouldn't QUITE describe the level of hatred which coursed through her at those thoughts. She bet that she wasn't the only one who thought that way, just by recalling everyone's reactions to the news alone, if they had found what she did…

In any case, she needed to think of something else before she snapped, drew Balmung and did somethings he would REALLY regret. What else was there…? Oh yeah, her and Vert! Noire's eyes shined with realization as her fury ebbed away thanks to this new thought process… although it would never go away, no matter how hard she tried. Not like she wanted it to either, as if she stopped being angry about it, just what did that say about her as a person? Anyways, regarding Vert, she and Noire herself pretty much did the same thing as far as Noire was concerned.

Vert stayed in Leanbox, helping the proceedings with the alliances between her, Neptune and her own Nations. Though, given the exact nature of Leanbox's society Noire worried whether or not they would try anything funny with this alliance, even though her rational mind told her that it would be within their best interest. Those guys couldn't afford to be picky at this point. Aside from that, Vert seemed to go off on her own adventures too, to where Noire wasn't sure on, but judging from what had happened the Lastation Goddess could tell that training had been on her fellow Goddess's mind. She didn't blame her, with that thrashing they'd received she doubted anyone wouldn't want to change themselves so something like it never happened again.

As for Noire herself… well, she did try to stay in Leanbox for a bit herself, helping the politics out on her end, until she received word that things in Lastation were getting a bit too volatile for her tastes. Avenir got rumoured to be up to no good again, not to mention reports of some underhanded deals beneath the desk, so Noire had decided to let some of her representatives do the work for her in Leanbox (having requested Raiden to stay and act as their bodyguard in case stuff went down) whilst returning home to settle things here for her people. Though, she'd be honest for once and say she preferred her home Nation to Leanbox any day, she just felt so comfier here with all these skyscrapers that testified to how far Lastation had come in comparison to the barbaric feeling culture Leanbox had.

No hard feelings there, Vert.

"Well, that should be all there should be to recall for the readers…" Noire mused whilst on her walk. 'Aside from that there should be reference to me dealing with those under-the-desk deals going on, but there shouldn't be much else there… oh yeah, there was the training I've been doing behind the scenes, but enough about that. I got a request from Chian to come over, so it'd be best to see what she wants.' Yeah, it had happened a couple hours earlier but Noire had received a letter from Chian, who had been doing rather well for herself after everything went down and she got discharged from the hospital, asking if she could come to her Café as she wanted to discuss something with her in person. Normally the Goddess wouldn't be someone who would just come to another's beck and call,, but Chain would be the exception in this case.

Thus, after making sure everything had been in order for her to work on later, Noire had left the Basilicom taking her HF Blade with her. She never went ANYWHERE without it nowadays…

* * *

Arriving at Chian's shop had never felt like this, Noire thought as she approached the doors to the establishment. Recalling how bad it had looked when the whole Zombie incident was stopped, Noire found herself pleasantly surprised to find it back in working condition. The Factory no longer resembled the decrypt, decaying building that it had once been, nor did it resemble the wreck that it had been when Ganache did his thing. Thus, to Noire it looked great, and it brought a soft, fond smile onto her lips.

'I just wish I had more time, if I had then I'd have visited more often…' the woman thought to herself, shaking her head as regret seeped into her smile. Ever since the others had left, Noire didn't find much time to visit Chian and her factory, especially with all the work she had to do to regain her people's trust. That combined with the amount of quests, politics and the whole shebang with Leanbox too. She wondered if Chain was doing okay right now…

Whelp, only one way to find out.

As Noire reached for the Cafés entrance, the blackette felt a surge of nostalgia when she grasped the handle, causing her to close her eyes in remembrance. Memories of when she came here with Neptune's group so long ago which filled her with nostalgia, a similar smile forming on her lips when she recalled the times when she would quarrel with the party's resident meta Goddess. She even recalled the conversation between her and Nico over a cup of coffee, the conversation which became the foundation for her giving Neptune a chance to show her she was worth getting to know… something she never once regretted no matter how much the purplette pressed her buttons by calling her lonely heart.

'Now then, let's get this reunion on the road, shall we…?' Noire thought to herself after a moment of nervousness which caused her to steel her nerves. That is, until something came over her and, after a brief second of wide eyes, Noire twisted herself as she pivoted to the side. As a result, Noire managed to get out the flight path of several masculine figures when they came flying out of the door, loud screams escaping their throats before being replaced with disgruntled grunts when they hit the ground. Afterwards, they just lay there, looking stunned and staggered as they began piecing together what had happened to them.

Noire meanwhile, struggled to come to grips with what she'd just seen, looking completely bewildered with the sight before her. 'Um… did that just happen? Why did several guys just come flying out of Chain's Café like that…?' she wondered, watching as the men got to their feet after they'd regained their awareness… only, for Noire to quickly realize a little something about them when she saw their faces: they were people belonging to Avenir's side of things, she could tell due to the badges that they wore on their suits which implied that whatever reasons they had come to this place, they were NOTHING good.

"Damn bitch, this is what we get for being so nice?"

"Avenir offers her protection for just a small fee, and her allegiance, and this is how she pays us…!"

"She'll regret this, mark my words! Passé will not last till the expo!"

Those were some of the comments that Noire had heard as the men fled the scene before unwanted attention could be drawn to them, and was it just her, or did their pants look a little darker than usual in a… certain area? Still, seeing something like this planted all sorts of questions into the blakette's mind, ones which didn't offer very favourable or preferable outcomes should they be answered the way she feared they might. Chian may not have been under the most peaceful of lives right now, something the Lastation CPU did not like one bit.

Noire shook her head to clear her mind of such thoughts, before turning to the entrance and going inside. Perhaps she'd be able to ask Chian herself, heck maybe that was why she called her over?

Like she mentioned previously, only one way to find out.

* * *

Entering the Café and hearing the doors camp shut behind her, Noire looked around out of reflex, soon being hit with another wave of nostalgia upon seeing the familiar sight before her. To the black-haired CPU, it had been way too long since she had last stepped foot in here, but she didn't focus on that as much as she did before, not with what she wanted to ask Chian. Since the Café looked to be mostly deserted, since it was about middle afternoon right now, so people were likely either a work or heading back home for the night, she didn't have to worry about anyone interfering with her business. Plus, with her actions over the last few months, Noire didn't feel the need to wear her Mask or any glasses around here, so that was something.

As such, Noire strode through towards the back area with confidence laced within her steps. She walked over to the counter, and just when she made to pass through, a familiar face walked right out of the kitchen behind that, a familiar blue haired lady wearing an engineer's outfit. She looked to have been muttering to herself about something, Noire suspected she'd been muttering about those recent Avenir goons, until the blackette called out to her. "Hey there, Chian. You doing okay?"

"Huh?" momentarily caught by surprise, the lady known as the Café owner Chian looked up in bewilderment, blinking owlishly at the new yet familiar voice which had called out her name. The moment her yellowish eyes landed upon the source of it however, her expression morphed to one of amused happiness, as she gave a grin only someone who did a lot of heavy lifting could give. "Well slap me thrice and hand me to me mama, its you Noire! Great to see you again after all these months. Oh yeah, I'm good thanks, plus it looks like you're doing well for yourself." She stated whilst offering a hand to shake, to which Noire accepted with a small smile of her own as well. "Though I guess you might be curious about why I asked you here in the first place, am I right?"

Noire nodded at that, all the while gesturing behind her whilst twisting so her left side faced towards the factory and café owner. "Sure, but would you mind telling me what all that was about first? Has Avenir been doing stuff to you behind my back?" she questioned, her smile having shifted to a worried frown. "I'd expect nothing less from them, they've been pulling some shady tricks recently, especially when we look at Lowee." She remarked, thinking back to a few reports from her Nation's garrison. Apparently Avenir's been doing some shady business with Lowee, which was strange since the Nation itself appeared to have isolated themselves, with any attempts at communication and transportation on their end falling flat on their faces. Noire honestly found herself worried when thinking about it, as according to the events at Leanbox, they had a whole slew of enemies to deal with. Khorne the god of war was bad enough, but if he was attracted to Leanbox through its martial arts practices, then Lowee with its magics will… well, they'll attract the attention of Tzeench, she figured, the changer of ways.

That title ALONE spoke volumes about THAT particular Chaos God.

At this, Chian shook her head, probably somewhat aware of the blackette's thought process. Her form leaned against the front of the counter, whilst she looked back towards Noire with a small knowing smirk tugging at her lips. "Ah, don't worry 'bout them, they come here occasionally to cause trouble. I have ways of disposing of them like the pieces of garbage that they really are." She remarked dismissively, waving an arm to the side whilst tossing aside a cloth she had on hand, showcasing just how few fucks she actually gave. "No need to worry about me, Noire… still feels weird to call you that…" she added at the end, shaking her head.

Noire merely chuckled at that, rolling her eyes at this since it showed Chian's devotion to her as a CPU. It wasn't like she had to hide that this place's owner knew her either, it wasn't exactly uncommon knowledge, which could be classed as a double-edged sword. Case in point, these goons belonging to Avenir harassing her at every turn, though it didn't seem like the blunette minded all that much. "I guess so… anyways, since you say you don't mind them, and you're not being too badly harassed by them, I'll look past it for now, but if they get serious please let me know, alright?" Noire requested, getting a nod from the woman.

"Sure, now I bet you're curious as to why I wanted to talk to you in person, right?" Chian queried, moving the subject along and getting Noire's attention. "Judging by the look in your eyes, I can tell you knew that stuff with those bozos wasn't why I called you. Anyways, lets talk in the back, what I want to talk to you about should best be kept… well, between us." Chian stated, twisting on her boots and heading behind the counter into the Café's kitchen. The look on her features as she did this practically screamed at Noire that whatever's been on her mind… it was serious business.

With her mind filled with questions and theories, Noire cautiously followed after her… unaware of a set of eyes focusing on her back.

* * *

Outside the Café, a hooded figure watched the Goddess follow Chian. Nobody would be able to see it due to it luring within the shadows as if they were cloaking it within their embrace. The sole feature one who COULD see it would find, would have been the ominous, demonic crimson eyes which focused solely on Noire, gazing at her with intense malice and almost mind-numbing hunger. Yet, despite this, the cloaked figure did not dare attempt anything, not one bit.

It eyed the Goddess intently, scrutinizing every detail about her. In fact, it almost looked like it would have been able to attack her blind spot, had it not realized that despite her casual demeanour, the Goddess had been completely on guard the whole time, exploiting zero openings in her defence. This showed it that this Goddess had trained much, gaining untold strength from it, and that no kin of sneak attack would do much damage on her. With this information, it slowly turned away and walked towards an alleyway, shambling about like an undead corpse. Kind of ironic considering Lastation's history with undead monsters, though, but the figure didn't mind nor care.

Not when it had finally gotten some… interesting news to report to its master with.

Things have already begun to change, now with the Goddess involved. Before, they didn't have to worry about such a being getting involved due to the secrecy that was attributed to their situation. The Goddess had been in Celestia for a long time, which had allowed them to move through with their plans with relative ease. If only that ONE person hadn't done what he had though, then they would have already achieved their goals at this point, but none of this mattered anymore.

It could tell, even with its lower status, that the whole situation will have to accommodate her into the equation. Everyone in their right minds could tell that Lastation's CPU had power beyond that of mortals, power which was rumoured to have been successfully challenged at one point in Leanbox though none of their group nor their master put much stock in unproven rumours. Someone like her getting involved may either prove to be somewhat problematic… or even a benefit to their cause. It'll all depend on how things would turn out in the end.

Perhaps these events would help its master of achieving his desired power once and for all...

* * *

Meanwhile, back inside the Café Chian and Noire stepped into the Kitchen which seemed to have very few staff members in it, likely family friends helping her out Noire had assumed. "Looks like you've been getting help these days." Noire commented, smiling happily at this sight. "Kind of makes me happy seeing this."

"Huh? Oh right, employees started coming by the dozens after you folks helped me out back then. I almost didn't know what to do with em, this here is simply one of those easier days. Its usually much more crowded than this." Chian explained, some of the workers acknowledging her with sheer respect and reverence in their eyes. This caused her to smile back and give a small nod in return, all the while she approached the back of the Kitchen where a door was located. "Anyways, lets talk in my Office, managed to find the money and time to build one after all that crap went down, one of my favourite investments if I say so myself."

Nodding at her request, Noire followed Chian towards it with confidence oozing from her. The blunette woman opened the door after finding some keys in her pocket, ushering Noire inside first then entering herself, closing the door behind her. "Sorry for the secrecy Noire, but what I want to tell you is quite important, and I'd rather not any unsavoury parties hear what I know."

"Its fine, Chian. I trust you after all, I DID tell you my identity back then, and I don't make these choices lightly." Noire replied, smiling as she took in the sight of the office before her. The office itself looked to fit say about one or two people in it at a time, which honestly fit the feel that the blackette got from it. The office consisted of two shelves of books, one on each side, with a leather chair and ebony table at the back. There was a small window located near the top of the back wall, likely just to let air in, whilst the floors, walls and ceilings seem to be made with wooden-style floorboards. Hanging from the ceiling was a fan with a light hanging from that alongside a lampshade.

This place gave her a feeling of being in a tight situation, similar to what she felt when she was still under Avenir's watchful gaze… something which sent shudders down her spine at the thought of. However, there was also this soft warmness to the place when she looked at all the ornaments and pictures which dotted the place, giving it a warm homely feel to it, resulting in Noire finding this office to be MUCH better than back then… shaking her head, the blackette turned towards the mechanic who strode passed her and pulled out another chair, putting it before her table and offering it to her. "So, what is it that you need to speak to me about?" she questioned, getting straight to the point whilst sitting on the offered chair.

After sitting opposite her, Chian gave a low, resigned and tired sigh, completely shifting her demeanours compared to what she had been like before. Immediately, Noire's mind rang its alarm bells at this, as something like THAT according to her experiences was never a good sign. Especially when the woman spoke whilst holding her forehead. "I'm not going to beat around the bush, Noire. My Factory's found a little something… interesting, yet very distressing at the same time." She told her, frowning as she reached down into a draw on her side of the table. She continued speaking whilst rummaging trough there, searching for whatever she needed. "It started about 6 weeks ago, whilst one of our business partners travelled down one of our trade routes, they apparently stumbled across a newly opened Abnormal Dungeon."

Now THAT got the CPU's attention, as evident by the surprised widening of her eyes. "What?! One of THOSE?!" she exclaimed, doing everything she could to remain seated. Abnormals, in comparison to Demons and their followers in Leanbox, were much easier to manage, even though they have been causing trouble to Gamindustri for over 500 years. If she were to gauge how much of a threat they were, then she'd say that Abnormals ranked just below the Demons in that respect, so whenever one encountered an Abnormal they were to flee on sight. It had been a while since she herself had dealt with one due to the whole Demon thing, but she had to keep in mind that not everyone was like her and her friends. "And you wanted to tell me this person? Why would you not report it to the Guild? Make it a quest for the Spec Ops to deal with?"

"I did, Noire." Chian stated, causing her to snap her mouth shut. "I set it as a quest the moment I heard of its existence, and that was 6 weeks ago. About 60 Spec Ops Agents in total have taken the Quest job, and god knows how many adventurers have stumbled upon it by accident. They all went into that place… and never came out. Pretty sure that you can guess what happened to them." Noire definitely had an idea implanted into her head when she heard this information, and nothing about it soothed her nerves one bit. "Only ONE Agent managed to get in there and make it out alive, though she didn't get very far in. Apparently she was one of your Generals or something but decided against sending platoons of men into it in favour of investigating herself. In any case, it was assessed that this Abnormal Dungeon was far too dangerous to be allowed to exist, so a group of high tier Spec Ops Agents would be required for this Quest to be completed. However, with how these guys are focusing more on the approaching Spec Ops Exam, everyone seems to be too busy to take it, something I learned through one of my trips to the Guild."

'Yeah, the Spec Ops Exam…' Noire thought, thinking back to when she had learned of this exam's existence during her research into their operations back before Avenir's invasion. She recalled how the Exam was held once every couple years, to recruit potential new Spec Ops Agents into their ranks. The exam, however, is said to be one of the toughest, soul crushing and mind-numbing experiences out there, way worse than fighting a hundred Abnormals. Even the interviews for serving as Basilicom Staff couldn't compare to the gruelling nature that this Exam possessed, though considering how Spec Ops Agents are these days, Noire could understand why.

Therefore, for over 60 Agents of this calibre to be MIA thanks to a single Dungeon…

"So, I ended up cancelling the quest and asking for your help directly Noire." Chian finally finished, locating what she had been looking for and taking it out of the draw, placing it onto the table. Noire found that it was a file, a file likely to do with this newly discovered Abnormal Dungeon, something that a look from Chian confirmed for her in her mind so she took the file and opened it up, scanning its contents. "Another reason why I took it down was because I'd heard that some parties connected to Avenir had also begin giving it this attention. Can you imagine what those guys would do with this kind of information? Nevermind with what Ganache did to you and your friends, whatever is in there could tip things back into their favour, just the act of quarantining it in their name alone would boost their Public image, not something I'd fancy happening." Neither did Noire, if she were to be frank, and she understood where Chian was coming from too.

'Hmmm… looks like this Dungeon's located deep within the West Wind Valley… how interesting…' she thought to herself, recalling how it had been in THAT specific Dungeon where she had her first encounter with Neptune, Nico and the others, as well as her first taste of Demonic Power which left her helpless when an Abnormal tried to eat her. She recalled having nightmares about that experience for weeks afterwards until both Neptune AND Nico helped calm her down. As she read the file, Noire felt the powers of Ashbringer and Balmung within her surging, seemingly drawn to this information and telling her that she needed to do this.

That ALONE could have convinced her to do this, she'd been developing relationships with these swords for a while now, so much that they'd become like siblings to her now. Sibling bonds forged through countless battles and training. After she finished reading the file, Noire put it down with the contents memorized into her brain, nodding to herself as she leaned against the chair with one leg crossed over the other. "Sure, I'll handle it Chian. I'll take some time off working to make sure this thing gets done." She stated in an assuring manner, earning a sigh of relief from the blunette Engineer/Café owner.

"Thanks girl, you're a lifesaver. Oh yeah, if you see any of your pals in the future, let em know I said hi, ok?" she stated with a wink, getting a chuckle out of the blackette. If it had been a while for her, then it would have been AGES since Neptune and the others had seen Chian. They'd likely have a LOT to talk to her about when they inevitably return to stop Avenir for good… as well as focus on these Key Fragments they're so hung up about, freeing Histoire from wherever she was located.

"Sure thing, I'll begin right now if you don't mind. This Dungeon won't get done otherwise, so take care Chian."

"You too Noire, good luck."

* * *

The moment that Noire left and stepped foot onto the streets of Lastation outside, she swiftly transformed into her HDD Form: Black Heart. The feeling of her HDD Outfit, the black leotard with detached sleeves, the legwear, her hair turning white with her eyes becoming teal with power button symbols… she missed the feeling.

'Well, now that I have some important matters to take care of, I better get started. This Dungeon Chian told me about won't take care of itself…' the blackette thought to herself. In any case, she took off into the skies and flew in the direction which led towards this Abnormal Dungeon. The file had codenamed this Dungeon 'DMC Castle' for some reason, but she felt like it had been a reference of some kind, though she was certainly no Neptune when it came to this.

Strapped to her back, behind her blue plane-like wings, were both Balmung and Ashbringer, the latter sword's larger frame easily dominating that of the former. The Ashbringer constantly glowed a brilliant golden colour, making her look like a black, silver and golden blur as she zoomed across the skies to her destination, almost as if the blade itself eagerly awaited the chance to punish those who dared to oppress humanity for their own gain. It made an excited grin spread across Black Heart's face, a feeling of excitement and comfort following suit.

Through the countless hours she had spent training and researching it with the von kessal family's archives as well as that of the Spec Ops, Black Heart had discovered that the Ashbringer's power could easily match that of Balmung's own, with a whole arsenal of holy attacks which fit quite well with her Divine Energy. Whenever she used it, Black Heart always got hit with the feeling that this blade carried the hopes of everyone who forged it, almost like the blade had the hopes of every human being on the planet. Something told her this feeling wasn't just that though, a feeling, thus it led her to believe that the blade held just as many secrets as Balmung itself does, making it nonetheless an excellent addition to her arsenal.

'Even though it's not NEARLY as active as Balmung…' the CPU couldn't help but mentally remark when she glanced at the hilt of the sword she had obtained before the Gala even began. More than a few occasions had passed when she heard a disembodied voice echoing within this blade, enough times to show Black Heart that this thing possessed a level of sentience she had not expected originally. This discover… sort of unnerved her, yet not at the same time. Most of the time she heard it was either in training and usually it was quite helpful, even if it didn't speak in proper sentences, or showing her images of things she had realized either happened in the past (one time she even saw images of her own battles with Neptune back up in Celestia), present like the tidings of Avenir which had helped her keep ahead of them, or the future… though that part seemed to be a bit blurrier.

So yeah, bottom line, aside from her HF blade, these two weapons held WAY more secrets, perhaps too many.

Black Heart thought this as she continued her flight towards her destination.

* * *

A while of flying later, Back Heart found it to be about middle evening, sunset having just happened, when she found the location of this Abnormal Dungeon. As for her HDD form, she'd been able to maintain it for a while, simply due to the recent rejuvenation of faith in her thanks to her efforts. It filled her with pride, knowing that her hard work bore fruit, though she didn't pay this much more attention than that in favour of looking at the entrance.

"So… this is the place, huh?" she whispered beneath her breath, eyeing the Dungeon entrance with a calculating gaze. "Looks different compared to what I've heard and seen of these places, for sure…" That thought both troubled and excited her for obvious reasons, something which got reflected by the swords on her back.

According to previous reports, these Abnormal Dungeons usually formed as Portals of something of similar nature. That had been what Team RAIL had encountered, plus the majority of the Spec Ops forces here in Lastation… but this one? Nope, this one looked more like the entrance to an underground cave or something. This one seemed to be built into one of the many cliffaces throughout West Wind Valley. There were two incomplete looking stone walls jutting out to form a corridor-like passageway, with an arch connecting the two of them. It reminded her of Leanbox's fortresses now that she thought about it, and THAT seemed enough to cause her to grimace.

"Well, at least it was easier to find…" Noire, having retaken human form, muttered under her breath, summoning her HF Blade and drawing it from its sheath. The weapon constantly vibrated with electricity generated from its internal current. "Still though, looking at this place… I can't help but feel like there's something dangerous about it. More than the average Abnormal Dungeon…" She'd been able to clear dozens of these Dungeons up until the Gala whenever they were formed, and when she had Noire had reaped quite the few benefits that she gave to her Nation to help it recover from all these attacks. However, this one just gave her all kinds of bad vibes, way more than those she had cleared previously.

This didn't change the fact she had to go inside, but it was still something to take notes from. Noire thought this whilst nodding to herself. "After clearing it, I'll have a platoon of men come here to see if they can make this place available for study, the monsters here are generally quite weak so it wouldn't take much to clear them out. Thoughts for later, I suppose." With those thoughts spoken to the outside atmosphere, Noire strolled inside.

* * *

**Chapter end**

**Here we go, the first chapter complete. If anyone is curious, I won't be making this story as long as the main one, that would be just stupid. Despite that I WILL be making sure to describe everything that happens as detailed as I can, cause thats how I write these days. Again, since this is a side story, it would be good if you read the main one at least up until chapter 148. It may sound like a lot, but it'll make this story awhole lot easier to understand. **

**Hope you all enjoy this, and i'll see you all either here, or in OEG Rebirth**

**Peace out!**


	2. Chapter 2 - A Warehouse Dungeon

**Chapter 2 - A Warehouse Dngeon**

The moment that she stepped inside, Noire immediately got the feeling of being in an Abnormal Dungeon, just like all the other times she had.

Once she had taken her first step into this place, she had instantly got hit with a wave of sickness, a feeling which had set about washing over her like a rush of crashing water whilst the settings around her began to shift and distort. It reminded her of how illusions which manipulated the fabric of reality worked, and she only knew THOSE from reading books which had originated from Lowee. She almost felt like she would both hurl as well as fall over at the same time, everything beginning to twist in on itself to jar her perceptions of life itself.

"Ugh…!"

'Yep, this is DEFINITELY an Abnormal Dungeon alright…' Noire thought, biting back the urge to curse as she held her forehead, a blunt yet powerful pounding sensation erupting within the depths of her Skull. It resembled the full brunt of a bullet train slamming into a building, only that same brunt was repeated throughout her skull's interior with no sign of slowing down one bit, something which Noire really HATED about these Dungeons. She sometimes wondered if it was something about Team RAIL and Nico, but aside from their reports everybody else (including herself) had experienced this feeling all the time, whenever they entered these damned places.

Only one good thing had been recorded about this feeling, and that would have been how it only lasted a couple seconds at most, and a millisecond at best. Unfortunately for Noire, she had to have the worst kind of luck since it took the full 2 seconds for this pain to stop, and her settings to finally solidify themselves. "Ugh.. Ugh… the pain's slowly going down now, must mean I'm in the Dungeon proper." The ancient Goddess remarked to herself, shaking her head to get rid of the cobwebs within her mind. Thanks to having dealt with this feeling for so long, her body had built up a response to clear it the MOMENT that it ended, something of which she had WAY too much gratitude for.

Once it was finally done, Noire blinked several times as she raised her head, lowering her right hand from were it had once been on her forehead to look at her new surroundings. Good thing her jaw had been a part of her body, otherwise she would have lost it when she found herself standing atop a piece of concrete in a warehouse… only, it was NOTHING like any kind of warehouse she had ever seen.

The whole Warehouse was HUGE, as in colossally huge, so huge that Noire could hardly see the top or the bottom. Everything around her felt WRONG, as evident by how she looked around and found herself standing like she was walking up a surface like that orange clad ninja, but to her it felt like normal gravity. Everything slanted upwards, only to where Noire again had no idea. Up above, she could see crates floating about like pieces of garbage, looking like they had been partially crushed by something whilst a rare few looked normal. Two such crates floated before the platform she found herself on. On both the left and right sides, Noire observed uncountable numbers of shelves filled with boxes like a typical warehouse, the sole thing resembling one in this weird place. She could see dozens of signs around her, some dotted around floating crates, others on scattered frames, pipes ect:

Stupidity

Obesity

Drink Virility.

"#scoff# No thank you, I'd rather not get fat…" Noire muttered, a scowl planting itself onto her face whilst tutting her head away from these signs. No way would she do something which would apparently make her look fact, she preferred her current figure thank you very much! "And what's this 'Virility' stuff? Don't think I've heard of THAT brand in Lastation…" she added on, eyeing some of the crates with distaste. Whoever made this place a reality, she really needed to get their heads examined cause the maintenance of this place looked like a scrapyard at best…

Ugh, she sounded SO much like Mundus there, and THAT wasn't a comforting thought.

'Still, if this Dungeon's one big platformer like this, it makes sense why not much progress was made and there were no map attempts in the report… Whelp, time to go exploring…'

Deciding that staying put wasn't the best idea, Noire began walking forwards towards the first crate she seemed to have to climb. Something about this place seemed to be restricting her ability to transform, so HDD wasn't an option anymore. "Well, some cardio isn't so bad, I don't want to gain too much weight…" she mused, though when she thought that the image of Neptune fattening herself up with Pudding came to mind. "Though, Neptune probably would if given the chance…"

Inside of her, the black haired Goddess found herself feeling like she was scaling a tower.

With that in mind, Noire jumped to the first crate, grasping the ledge before hauling herself on top of it, repeating this process with the second crate. Whilst doing that, Noire had indeed noted how there was this 'pressure' in the air, one which felt like gravity itself was pressing down on her. Add in the distortions she could sense all over the place, and one could see how messed up this place looked.

After getting onto the second crate, Noire discovered two crates having been crashed together with the one she was on, creating a V shaped crossroads. "Hm, so the paths, or whatever in this place sees as paths, diverge from here, huh?" the blackette mused, glancing between the paths. On the left side, she could see a couple floating crates atop one another, whilst further ahead she could see tis black resin-like material hindering the way forwards. Shifting her gaze to the right, she saw the same thing… only there was no webbing involved.

Whelp, she knew which path she wanted to take.

Shifting her position, Noire strode over to the right side, gazing towards the crates. On both sides, each of them had large gaps which would be difficult to traverse, especially with her lack of jumping ability. 'Why did the devs not give us better jumping? I know they input a plan to improve it later in the game but come on!' the blackette whined in her mind. Afterwards, the Lastation Goddess decided to try something which could help her get across, as an idea had already popped into her head a second into examining the distance she'd need to jump.

'We've so far been able to generate Panels to either slow us down or alter our trajectory, but who says we can't use them in other methods?' Noire commented within herself, taking a few steps back till she had enough space to get a head start. Just before she broke into a mad sprint, she threw a hand out forwards, and as such a panel appeared right by the edge of the Crate which had the size of 6-7 meters in diameter. Once Noire stepped onto this panel, a force propelled her upwards, allowing her to jump higher than she normally would, flip through the air like an acrobat, before landing atop the top Crate.

"Yes, it worked!"

Noire shrieked this in joy, even though nobody would hear her or give a comment. A few seconds passed before she realized this, and a… well, somewhat depressed sigh escaped her lips. "Geez, I spend so much time with other people and now I feel the impact when I go on my first solo quest in a long time… sheesh, if this keeps up, Neptune will never let me live this down." She remarked, already imagining the aggravating voice the preteen had, accompanied by her 'troll face' calling her things like Lonely Heart or the 'friendless Goddess'.

"Shut it Neptune, I'm not lonely!" She shouted… at nothingness.

…

…

…

…

…

This realization dawned on her after a moment of silence where she swore she heard crickets chirping, and her face became flushed crimson in humiliation. She even reflexively gazed downwards to hide her shame, as if someone would be judging her right now. 'Oh goddess, did I REALLY just do that? Ugh, let this secret fall with me when I die, or be it forgotten by history. If someone like that bratty Goddess learns of this, I'll die of shame…' she thought, before looking around to see where she needed to go next.

Looked like she had arrived at a reverse 't' shaped junction, where she could go either straight ahead, or she could go left. Up ahead, Noire spotted another crossroads, causing her to groan to herself and wonder if this was more like a labyrinth than a platforming area. She knew she'd said some cardio would do her some good, but this was indeed ridiculous? Noire REALLY wanted to meet whoever made these places, just so she could show her 'appreciation' for all this stuff they've put her and her people through. As for the left side, she saw some crates which led to the left side of the following crossroads, not much else though.

Part of her wondered if this would be some kind of 'O' shape if she looked at it from a bird's eye view.

In any case, Noire still chose to go straight ahead, still repeating her previous actions with the jumping off panels to get to the next Crate… only, as Noire fell towards it, her eyes widened when she realized she had put a little TOO much power into the Panel, as a result she was falling towards the crate's rear edge. "Whoa, whoa-whoa- whoa-whoaaaaaaa!" she cried out with a surge of panic escaping her chest, landing just before the edge and beginning the struggle to retain her balance. Noire almost fell off right then and there, had she not managed to regain herself at the last minute. Afterwards, she just let herself fall onto her backside, a hand over her pounding heart as she took laboured breaths. "Whew… that was close… I don't want to fall to my death out here…" Noire muttered softly, her eyes closing to attempt to calm her jackhammer of a heart.

Taking a short moment to catch herself again, Noire then eventually stood back up, opening her eyes with a shimmering resolve restored within them. "Right!" she chided herself, patting her cheeks with her hands to try and get rid of any lingering fears. "Onwards we go, Noire. Also, note to self: gauge how much power panels need if I don't want to fall to an early grave." With that said, the black-haired Goddess continued on her way.

It didn't take her long for her to traverse multiple platforms, some way up high and others she had to take time to look around and locate, but eventually she found herself flying through some resin she had cut through with a quick application of Zandatsu combined with her HF Blade, only to fall onto a pretty large platform. A platform made from empty shelves with panels on them to walk on.

Though, a little something different would happen here.

Upon landing, Noire slid along it for a few seconds, before digging her silver heels in and stopping herself abruptly. "Whew, a bigger platform… I at least won't have to worry about falling as much for now…" Noire mused to herself, before her instincts informed her of danger. It helped that Ashbringer began to glow brightly as if trying to warn her that danger was nearby, and sure enough, both of these made her look around to see several crimson portals open up, spitting out Those 'Lesser Stygians' as well as a couple 'Bathos' creatures. About 20, 10 of the former and 10 of the latter. Each of them glared and hissed at Noire, eager to taste her flesh in their fangs, whilst the Cherub-looking creatures aimed their crossbows at her.

Noire meanwhile, huffed while flicking her ponytails to her side. She readied her HF blade getting into her battle stance which involved her placing her right foot forwards and her left leg sideways. She grasped her HF Blade in both hands and held it so that the hilt was angling the blade downwards from above her shoulder: pretty much the same stance that her mentor Raiden uses on a daily basis. Her eyes focused their crimson gaze upon the Demons before her, and if they had ANY sense at all, they would have noticed her eyes having a faint glow to them. "What took you all so long?" she questioned sarcastically.

All they responded with were a few howls of hatred as they charged at her.

* * *

"Um, Mrs Chian?"

"Yeah?"

Whilst she worked on some papers in her office, Chian looked up when she heard the voice of one of her workers. She eyed the worker, who looked to be a man in his mid to late forties, wearing a chef's uniform whilst looking like he had just gotten through a particularly rough time with the rest of the staff. Even though they weren't serving as many customers right now, it didn't mean any of them slacked off on their work. One time she had caught one failing one of her family recipes, and well… nobody wanted to recall how that turned out.

This man was named Jacob, basically he served as her second in command and had been around since her father was still alive. Heck, he had even babysat for her father when she had been a wee lass once or twice, though afterwards he had disappeared for some reason. She didn't know why or what had happened back then, nor did she care about it. All she wanted to do would be to keep this business, which served as the last thing connecting her to her father, up and running. Nothing else apart from that mattered to her… well, aside from the CPU and getting the chance to stick it to those Avenir bastards, but that second one was more of a petty thing and the first would always have an important place here. Especially with what the CPU had done for her.

Still, she did detect the concern within the man's voice, thus she decided to hear him out.

"Do you think that… it was the right idea to tell her? I mean, she must be busy and all…"

Hearing him say his piece so nervously like that, Chian sighed, leaning back on her chair. Honestly, she could understand his worries, as not all her staff members were on board with her idea of bringing their CPU into this mess. Not when she had more important things to attend to like that truce business over in Leanbox. But, this stuff had been going on for a while and aside from this being a possible PR stunt for Avenir, it had been affecting their business partners which would in turn effect Passé.

More than that…

"I thought about it beforehand, but I saw little option, Jacob. I wouldn't have done so otherwise, since she does have a nation to manage. Though it would be best for you not to worry, even if she wasn't a CPU, I'd still rely on her for some assistance. Noire's unlike any other person I know, and that's saying a lot coming from me. Not only is she a strong fighter who won't rest until her enemies can no longer endanger those she considers precious to her, but also someone with great mental strength, able to push through these tough times when people haven't been able to trust her. Someone like that… would definitely be someone my father would have placed his faith in, and thus, so shall I."

"Sir… it appears that SHE has entered the Dungeon…"

"Oh? Interesting… then it appears that all is not lost. What that foolish idiot did before will now come undone, everything shall proceed as planned once more."

"But sir! Should she by chance discover it, won't it…?!"

"Do not worry yourself over matters that do not concern you. This Goddess may be rumoured to be strong, and I will enjoy fighting her when the time comes. But in comparison to myself, she will be nothing. Now, leave me. I must be in seclusion for the time being."

"Yes, sir…"

* * *

Back with Noire herself…

"Phew, now THAT was a workout…"

After dealing with the Abnormals, of which she had to suffer extra waves of them which soon reached the hundreds. Noire decided to continue on with her platforming. Apparently, as she ascended up them, she discovered how there would be platforms in which she could rest on… after she had killed the Abnormals which spawned there. It… wasn't exactly somethings he could day she liked, even though she enjoyed a good fight every now and then. But, with everything that's happening around her, she didn't have time to truly enjoy it.

Those feelings surged through her as she continued on her platforming journey, ascending upwards and fighting hordes of Abnormals all the while. Whilst stamina draining, Noire DID find solace in that it allowed her to get better at using Panels for MORE than what she and the other CPUs used them for, something which she found herself to be getting more proficient at the more she used it. She DID encounter a few more Notable Demons like a bulkier Stygian covered in flames: of which she had decided to call it a 'Hell Knight'. Then there were those bulldozer-like Demons which she could only strike through the openings on their backs that reminded her of the 'Tyrants' which she had heard of thanks to Avenir.

In current times, Noire found herself jogging through a series of corridors, something she found herself more than thankful for since it meant she wouldn't be falling to her death. Although, this DIDN'T mean it wouldn't have its own dangers, something she found herself certain of thanks to Ashbringer. 'These creatures, compared to Demons, are like starter mobs in videogames…' Noire thought to herself. 'I wonder if its because of that platforming section that this Agent couldn't get this far in… I've already gone further that this Agent ever could have.'

Whilst she turned to walk down another corridor, Noire suddenly sensed something amiss which caused her to halt her strides. Instinctively, she drew out her HF blade and got into her battle stance when her instincts told her that danger was nearby. "Looks like this Dungeon has a few surprises left up its sleeve…" she muttered, something which got proven correct when she saw what looked like a yellow orb appear on the opposite side of the corridor… from out of freaking nowhere. Instantly, Noire sensed it was like the rest of the Abnormals she had seen, especially when she noticed how there seemed to be shards of concrete being forcefully yanked from the surroundings, as if the orb's aura of pure malice and hatred was ripping them out down to their very foundations.

A moment later, those shards soon formed spikes after their solid forms got melted by the malice-filled aura, becoming spikes similar to that of blackened blood which rotated around the yellow orb. Faster and faster they spun, so much so that the surrounding space around the orb began to show signs of distortion, pretty much confirming within Noire's mind that it would be best NOT to let that get anywhere near her.

'Since I don't have many ranged attacks right now, I can only do this!'

Bending her legs, Noire pumped them full of energy, thus when she finally broke into a sprint she transformed into nothing but a blur, dashing right towards the rotating orb. However, just as she neared it, Noire's eyes widened as she activated her ZANDATSU, altering her perception of time to a slower extent. This slowed down everything around her, giving Noire plenty of time to pivot herself around the Orb's shards. Instead of just slashing it apart though, Noire just connected the sword to her right foot after raising the foot's leg, before unloading thousands upon THOUSANDS of slashes upon the Orb, not giving it a single second to respond. In essence, in one second did Noire deal over 10,000 Slashes towards this thing, so by the time the ZANDATSU effect deactivated, the entire thing simply shattered into nothingness, leaving no remains.

"Whew, that was easy…" Noire mused as she took a breath to still her nerves. Honestly dealing with these small fries, whilst easy, would soon prove boring to her. A sigh escaped her lips when she thought about this, placing her HF Blade back into its sheathe. Having fought against powerful Demons like the Bloodletters and Bloodthirsters, beings who exuded ACTUAL danger to their surroundings, things like these would HARDLY prove a challenge to her.

Catching herself, Noire quickly shook her head in a scolding manner. "Don't get too cocky, Noire. Abnormals may not pose as much a threat to you as they did in the past, but they still have been threatening your people." She figured this was the price one had to pay, after fighting so many strong opponents one after another, fighting what could be considered common enemies would become more of a chore than anything truly threatening. She hadn't even truly started fighting yet, and Noire had already begun to showcase just how prideful she really was…

Not good.

Not good at all, she thought.

Though, in all fairness, compared to the confidence she had prior to Halo Mountain, this level could hardly be called confidence one bit. Shudders ran down her spine at those memories, they'd definitely leave her a shivering mess no matter how many times she recalled them. Recalling those eyes that Mundus possessed, the way he calmly dispatched each of them and looked to have been about to use them as if they were his playthings… yeah, not something which she would be getting over any time soon.

That probably was the case for the rest of the Party who fought there too, they ALL needed to get stronger, they needed to get stronger REAL fast before they could meet that bastard again. So, they could pay him back for putting them through all this.

'It's probably way worse for Vert and Neptune, still… Well, I believe they'll get over it, that moron has a lot of friends, not like I'm jealous or anything, and Vert has her allies in her Basilicom… the rest should be fine…' Even as she thought that, the worry which bubbled inside of her didn't cease. Though, wasn't that natural? Isn't worrying for others something a decent person would do? Well, those were her feelings on the matter, as Noire continued on her journey through this Dungeon.

* * *

A short moment of jumping atop strange items later, Noire came to another warehouse-like storage section which would require platforming, causing her to groan internally but otherwise no other methods of complaining escaped her. Platforming had quickly begun to be viewed by her as one of her least favourite activities, quite close to letting Avenir roam free when she was obviously aware of their crimes.

The section consisted of a couple tall shelves, one leaning on its side whilst the other pointed forwards like some sort of perpendicular angle. There was a Crate before her which she could use to get a running head start, though she'd have to be careful of the pipe protruding out between her and the shelf. Afterwards, were a set of floating crates leaning on their sides and forming a curving segmented pathway which went beneath the vertical shelf and connected to another set of crates which lead to the other side. In any case, it simply had to be another complex platforming section. '#SIGH# at least I have my panel trick to get through this…' she thought after bisecting a couple Bathos which had appeared above her to try and hinder her progress.

Once they had dispersed, Noire took a few steps back before breaking into a sprint, a panel appearing before the edge and propelling Noire up into the air. The faint rush of air pressing against her face and making her twin tails flap in the breeze didn't diminish her eyesight, allowing her to notice that at the back of this platforming section would be the way forwards. She soon landed on another platform, sliding to a halt before making another panel and jumping onto the next crate. She repeated this process again and again, traversing along the curving path of crates in order to make it to the other side. Though, she had ended up on a walkway made from Crates meshed together, so she had to walk along them and then hop down to solid ground again.

Soon, she managed to get it done, and at long last she found herself looking at another corridor. This kind of surprised her, yet not so much at the same time. 'These Abnormal Dungeons definitely surpass the normal ones in Gamindustri on size alone…' she thought. Whilst some Dungeons had multiple floors, they had NOTHING in terms of the sheer size that these Abnormal variants possessed. Even if she compared their complexities, these Abnormal Dungeons had them beat… Not a thought she liked to entertain at least. Still, it wasn't something she couldn't handle, a fact which she used as encouragement to press on here. Whatever this place was, HAD to have SOMETHING worthwhile in it, this thought process had been born just before Noire had entered this place, but had strengthened over time.

**(Play OST - Empyre One And Enerdizer - My Radio Phillerz Remix)**

Taking a few steps forwards towards the corridor, Noire soon saw her way barred by a Hell Knight, and… wow, another Stygian this time made from ice, huh? Both these Stygian variants howled and shrieked as they bonked their swords against their secondary pieces of equipment, shields, although that didn't really concern the black-haired CPU. Actually, this reminded said CPU of Raven for some reason… oh yeah, the whole ice manipulation thing…

'Well, it'll be nothing for me, but at least these guys are being a bit more creative…' Noire mused mentally, deciding to give her HF Blade a break and instead drew Ashbringer from her back. The holy-based weapon thrummed with power as she drew it, almost trembling excitedly within her grasp at being able to fight the enemies of humanity. Once she held its shaft in both hands, the woman got into her battle stance, and that served as a trigger. A trigger for the two Stygians of fire and ice, to screech in malice before sprinting towards her.

However, the first attack landed on Noire's corner of the football field, when she recalled one of the powers Stefan wielded in his final battle. She got into the appropriate stance as Ashbringer began to glow with Holy energies which covered the blade. Only, unlike when Stefan had used it, these energies violently crackled like erratic snakes made from lightning, concealing the blade in an aura which mimicked its shape as she charged forwards with a battle cry.

Her fist target, became the ice clad Stygian, which quickly recognized the danger it had found itself in. Everything in its body screamed at it that the energy within that sword would be chaotically fatal to its well-being, like the energy itself had been the exact opposite of its own. As a result, the creature reacted like its life was on the line (admittingly, it kinda was), as it swung its blade upwards. What followed, was a trail of rising Ice spikes which shot up from the ground, easily reaching the size of a fully grown human. Each Spike looked like they could fulfil their purpose, what they were made to do… to pierce, to stab and utterly shred to pieces.

"Hah, as if such an obvious attack would it ME!"

Unfortunately for it, Noire didn't let that happen as the moment she saw the spike trail manifest a spike which would have pierced her otherwise, she raised a foot and smashed it, using the destroyed spike as a medium whilst forming a panel under that foot, one which allowed her to leap right on over the Spike Trail and allow her to land at the creature's right flank.

Not giving it any time to react, Noire swiftly thrusted the blade forwards, like she would her CPU Sword in what could only be described as a trillion stabbing motions. Dozens upon dozens of thrusts descended upon the Ice-clad Stygian, so fast that they actually created the illusions of many thousands of blades piercing through the ice-enhanced hide. This happened all within a couple seconds to the blackette, before she finished off the Abnormal by twirling on her left heel, spinning around the creature and swiftly swinging Ashbringer in a reverse horizontal slash, beheading the beast and ending the combo.

As the Abnormal vanished, Noire quickly turned her attention to the other enemy, which had already impaled the ground with its sword. Memories of what had happened during the last one she fought that did this played in her mind, and Noire reflexively responded. Without waiting for her feet to feel like they were on top of a BBQ stand, she bent her legs and jumped high into the air, flipping forwards multiple times. This ended up working, as a second later the entire ground around the creature became a molten mess, at least 10 meters of ground in every direction being converted this way thanks to the infernal heat radiating from its blade.

'The flames of Hell… this Hell Knight's flames may not be weak, but compared to HIS, they are nothing…' Noire thought as she landed atop the Abnormal's head, then jumping off it and flipping backwards so she could swing at the back of its neck like she had done to its buddy. Unluckily for her, the creature did not have the intelligence of a 2-year-old toddler, learning from the mistake of its brethren to angle its flaming shield and block the strike before it could land.

Fortunately, this meant that the ground lost the heat which had converted it, so Noire didn't feel too much when she landed on it, sliding to a halt. However, instincts kicked in as she raised Ashbringer and parried a horizontal slash which had been aimed for her eyes. Gritting her teeth at the force she had been exerted upon, Noire swiftly pushed the Abnormal back, jumping towards it to begin her own offensive.

If this thing thought it could rely on that shield forever, it had another thing coming, she thought as she pointed Ashbringer at her opponent with another technique in mind. "HAMER OF JUSTICE!" She called out, drawing out and condensing holy energy above the blade into a massive golden Hammer, one she swung the mighty blade to launch towards her opponent. The Hammer flew true, spinning like a wheel and with a loud BONK, struck the beast on the head and leaving it dazed when it dissipated right after. Noire wasted no time after this, knowing that this state would only last for 4 seconds at most, thus she sped towards her enemy and began visualizing another technique. "CRUSADER STRIKE!" She called out again, coating Ashbringer heavily in holy energy as she dashed right by the stunned Hell Knight with a gash having appeared at the base of its neck before it could regain itself. By the time it had done so, it had already been too late, for the gash erupted and took its head with it, leaving the headless corpse to fall to the ground and disappear into Particles.

**(OST End)**

"Like I would have any trouble…" Noire haughtily commented, flicking one of her ponytails with her free hand, huffing right afterward as she glanced down at the Blade in her weapon hand. "Well, its been a while since I last used you and Balmung in battle at least since I haven't found anyone worthy of you two, but I guess now would be a good time. After all, it looks like you're not satisfied yet, eh kiddo?" She commented, smirking when she felt the restlessness of the blade whilst it rattled like a serpent's tail within her grasp.

It had always perplexed her that these two swords, as massive as they were, indeed used her Divine energy to empower themselves. Balmung stored it within its crystal which glowed when it could be used to discharge an army-destroying wave (at full power, she restrained it usually), and Ashbringer channelled Holy Energy, but it also empowered itself further with her own Divine Share Energy, pretty much stacking it on top of its own energy source for greater destructive efficiency. This SOUNDED quite cool on paper, but in actual practicality… Noire found her situation to be similar to a short-term Battery. She could surely dish out a lot of damage at high percentages, but she could burn through her energy rapidly.

Hence why she usually stuck to her HF Blade since it provided excellent cutting power, but with no energy drainage.

That, and well, it was given to her by a special someone, so…

Shaking her head so she didn't think any further and fluster up a storm, Noire continued forwards. Her previous thoughts about this Warehouse-like Dungeon being big had definitely been validated in her mind by this point, but how big was it really? Not even she could guess that one.

"Ewwww, these things look gross as heck…" Noire groaned in disgust, feeling within her gut the nasty urge to vomit her lunch she had a few hours ago. The reason? Whelp, not long after she had finished those two Stygians off, and then found herself cornered in a room full of them alongside those spinning Shard-like things, she had found herself walking along a corridor which had these… well, these ugly, yellowish pulsating Tentacle-like things which wriggled and writhed along the walls they were restrained to. Almost like there was something running through them like blood within one's veins.

Not exactly a very nice thing to look at.

If Noire had thought THEY were bad when compared to the other ugly, grotesque and abominable sights she had seen from the Northmen, the forces of the Chaos Gods, and the vulgarity Mundus commonly bragged about, then the sights she saw when approaching what could only be described as a Mixing Room took the cake. She REALLY had to focus on not barfing when she saw that this 'Mixing Room' which, in a normal world would have had huge canisters of water which came out in taps for people to seek refreshments from… instead had these organ-like deformed beings within them, beings whose features she couldn't even recognize due to how severe the deformations looked. That, and how the yellowish liquid the Tentacles she'd seen earlier had been carrying seemed to distort and conceal them from a proper view. Though, Noire found that to be more of a blessing than a curse right now.

Even Ashbringer in her grasp trembled with similar emotions to its wielder, the sheer and utter contempt that it radiated for these beings which descended upon humanity with malicious intent could be felt by even comatose people. Shaking her head to try and focus on something else, Noire looked up when she noticed more Tentacle-like tubes running up the ceiling, soon locating the large… fleshy something which dangled in the room's centre. "Looks like whatever this stuff is, comes from this thing in the centre… looks like this Dungeon goes deeper too, judging by how I can't seem to see the bottom from up here." Noire muttered as she stepped towards a circular piece of railing and leaned over, looking down to see if she could find the source of this ugliness, only to find darkness.

Still, part of her couldn't help but wonder about what lay at the end of this Dungeon. With all these navigational areas, these enemies and grotesque designs, it made her think that whatever lay at the end would be both difficult, probably ugly, yet also satisfying to deal with. Not only that… 'I get the feeling this Dungeon's meant to represent something, like I dunno, maybe how corporations are instilling fear into people and making them by their products… sounds like Avenir in a nutshell, possibly the 4 Basilicoms and any corporations in Lastation in a nutshell.' She thought whilst looking around and taking in the overall steam punky features this 'Mixing Room' provided.

Her eyes soon caught sight of another doorway which lead out of the Mixing room. Noire's eyes sparkled at this, not only for the chance to get out of this freakazoid place but also to get to the bottom of this Dungeon in order to end it once and for all. "This place makes me want to take a whole day long shower… ugh." Shudders travelled down her spine as some of the grotesque sights she'd seen so far reared their ugly heads within her mind's eye again, prompting Noire to hurriedly stride towards the door in hopes of distracting her. Though, just before she could reach for the handle and push past it, some blackened resin suddenly erupted from above, as well as below it to conceal the door from view, barring her passageway.

**(Play OST: Thunderbolt fantasty)**

Immediately, this made her realize she was about to have company, which caused Noire to hold Ashbringer into a defensive stance. "Ugh, as if I didn't have ENOUGH annoyances on my mind already… its like having to deal with a bunch of annoying Neptunes all the damn time…" she whined to herself, just as soon as a whole load of Stygians and Bathos enemies appeared around her… as well as 2 of those Tyrant like things as well. Great, looked like she would be in for the long one here.

Oh well, better get this done with so she could move on already.

"Let's get this over with." She sneered, holding Ashbringer at the ready before the enemies charged at her. Noire, seeing as those bulky Tyrant-like things would be the most annoying to deal with when there were other Abnormals around, swiftly stunned them both with two HAMMER OF JUSTICE strikes, giving her a total of 4 seconds to take out the rest of the wave. That was fine with her though, since Noire had a few things she could do about that. One of them, she did next which had been to activate her ZANDATSU, slowing time around her by increasing her own perception. In this state, her attackers' movements occurred in slow motion, giving her the chance to activate her LIGHT DRIVE and ELECTRIC CHARGE in tandem, in order to blast towards them, launching one CRUSADER STRIKE after another at the Stygians. Afterwards, Noire wasted no time as she unloaded a bunch of VACUUM SLASHES at the aerial Bathos, slicing through them with just the air blasts born from her slash attacks.

By the time this had all happened, ZANDATSU deactivated and everything save for the two Tyrant—like Abnormals got eviscerated in spectacular explosions of light and Lightning. 'Whew, now its time for the big boys!' Noire thought to herself, holding Ashbringer at the ready for the last two Abnormals. Good thing too, cause the first one charged at her almost immediately after her time-altering technique finished, intending to shoulder tackle her like one of those rugby player's she'd sometimes hear some of her Basilicom staff rave on when they should be doing their work.

Unfortunately for it, Noire did NOT want to be piled on and possibly have her organs escape her mouth from all that weight it threw around, no she quite LIKED her organs where they were, thank you. Therefore, just before it could hit her with this shoulder tackle, Noire bent her legs and formed a panel, one which allowed her to jump and flip right over the creature, then she angled herself and delivered a spinning drill kick diagonally right into the back of its head, knocking it down to the ground whilst sliding to a halt. This exposed the opening on its back, and with a few quick strikes from Ashbringer's JUDGEMENT technique, pretty much a wide strike targeting multiple foes with the Holy Share-enhanced energy of Ashbringer, it got defeated rather quickly.

Right when Noire made to strike at the second one, a shadow had already darkened her surroundings, and it had only been a mere MILLISECOND in which Noire had the time to jump sideways to avoid an overhead smash from her last opponent. Unfortunately, this didn't give her enough time to avoid the shockwave generated by this strike, which resulted in her flying across the room.

"Gah!"

A loud gasp escaped her as pain exploded from within her back. The impact with the wall, despite the intensity behind it, Noire would have preferred THAT rather than making contact with the canisters, she did NOT want any of that gooey stuff to ruin her clothes. Hey, clothes were EXTREMELY important for a girl, just like their first kiss so no judging! With those thoughts passing through her mind, Noire landed in a crouch and looked up, seeing the final enemy stomping towards her whilst making a sound she could only describe as a distorted chuckling. A chuckle which carried immense amusement and satisfaction upon making her suffer.

'Why that little…!' A furious gaze erupted within Noire's eyes as she got up, holding Ashbringer as she applied one of its healing techniques: the LIGHT FLASH, restoring some of her power as well as healing her back. It wasn't a complete recovery, but it would be enough for her. With resolve burning within her being, the Goddess charged towards the last enemy, jumping over it and bringing Ashbringer down vertically in a CRUSADER STRIKE, cutting straight through the opening there and resulting in the entire creature exploding from how much energy she had put in.

**(OST end)**

'Whew! There, finally those annoyances are gone!' Noire thought whilst strapping Ashbringer to her back. After having used it to defeat more than a dozen Abnormals so far, she felt like it had become satisfied with the bloodshed, thus didn't have the same excitement as it did before. 'Well, that kiddo's earned some rest, thus I think the next time I fight I'll use Balmung. It may be overkill, but I just want to get this Dungeon cleared already so I can go home…' She thought, seeing the resin break apart to expose the door, which she used to continue on her way.

* * *

**Chapter end!**

**Second chapter complete, everyone.**

**For those who haven't guessed or played it, this Dungeon is a direct reference to the Warehouse level in DMC: Devil May Cry. I know its not as popular as the other titles in the series, but many of the level designs feel like they could fit in Lastation as Dungeons, which is why I'm using them. Thus, to those who've played the game, I think you all can tell which Demon will be the final boss, though how Noire will react to it will be anyone's guess. Please bear in mind though, that these following chapters may not involve as much talking as normal ones, since she's infiltrating a Dungeon solo. I'll also try my best to describe the level design of this piece from the game, but it'll be better for you to have played DMMC Devil May Cry for a better understanding of the landscapes. **

**Whelp, that's it for now, oh yeah please leave reviews and tell me what you think. Not just of the side story but the main one, it really helps me out and lets me know what you're all thinking. Reviews are quite nice to read after all. **

**Anyways, Peace out!**


	3. Chapter 3 - wrong succubus

**chapter 3 - Wrong Succubus**

After the doors closed behind her, Noire glanced backwards when she saw how… well, the best way she could describe it was the fabric of space and time themselves twisting inwards, causing the door to brunch up which kind of reminded her of whenever Neptune got tricked into eating those eggplants she disliked. The moment she thought that, a chuckle escaped the blackette's lips whilst placing a few fingers on the bridge of her nose. "I'm never going to look at Neptune's sour face the same way again, aren't l…?" she mumbled, her shoulders shaking from her chuckles.

Taking a deep breath, Noire calmed herself back down to a state of rationality, allowing her to twist around on her heels, a full 180 degrees to be exact, as she began making her way forwards. Both Ashbringer and Balmung hummed in a content manner whilst she did so, which basically meant she wouldn't have to worry about ambushes from Abnormals or anything of the like…

Although she DID have to deal with seeing those gross, ugly Tentacle things again.

Whilst she tried her best to ignore those grotesque things, Noire strode forth with confidence and determination, keeping her senses sharp for anything fishy. The following path she travelled seemed to be a simple mix of corridors and steps, all connected to each other in a somewhat spiral shape. At least, that was what she felt by the time she had reached the last corridor, which led to this… cylindrical looking area, she wasn't quite sure yet. But, even so, Noire STILL couldn't help but notice the feeling that she had been watched this entire time… though, she couldn't exactly place its origin. 'Must be this Dungeon then, if one was alive then I'd believe it. These Dungeons always seem like they're moving on their own like they were the innards of an actual organism….' Noire thought with a worried frown, concern blossoming within her chest for her people. If people mistaking found themselves within this place, she could only IMAGINE the traumatic fates that might befall them, especially the ones who had already entered this place.

Part of her indeed felt hugely guilty for not noticing this problem sooner, if she had then likely a lot less lives would have been lost and fewer families would have lost love ones in the line of duty. Noire understood that in a Spec Ops line of work, death would always be their eternal companion, and there weren't exactly any hopes for retirement either. It's just fighting until one can't fight anymore, and at that point they're left as Abnormal chow. Still, it didn't give her much of a comfort since she, as their CPU, had a responsibility that she had failed to adhere to. Fortunately, that feeling got moderately suppressed by her Balmung and Ashbringer, the loyal weapons that they were, so she managed to move forth without much issue.

By the time she reached the end of the last corridor, Noire found herself baffled by the sight that had awaited her. She now stood atop one small rectangular platform, jutting out one of the walls belonging to what she could only describe as a cylindrical chute, of that she was certain of at this point. Down the centre, she could see what those Tentacles were connected to, and to be quite frank, Noire could only describe it as a slimy, wriggling plant-like mass which shot down the chute straight into the centre of a massive fan, at which point the air around it became similar to those canisters in the makeshift mixing room. Throughout the mass, several small Tentacles would branch out and connect to different vents and stuff, spreading across this entire warehouse-like Dungeon.

'Looks like I'm getting closer to the end right now…' Noire thought to herself whilst kneeling by the ledge and looking down into the depths of the chute. Her eyes searched in a manner similar to security scanners looking for any intruders, for any sign of a clue on how to proceed, which remained quite difficult considering how blurry everything had become thanks to the murky air. Part of her wondered if she would have to activate her Fafnir Armour to gain the benefits to her own senses that the blood of Fafnir would grant her.

Speaking of that Abnormal, Noire reached behind her back and drew Balmung from there, holding it in her right hand as she gripped its handle for comfort. With the way things looked. It didn't look like Noire had that man options for getting down. Not only were there no steps or any platforms around, but she couldn't see any way of getting down without falling, either. Her Panels wouldn't exactly work in this situation, she wasn't THAT skilled with them yet, so they were out, which only left her with he bittersweet option of falling. She COULD theoretically use her ZANDATSU to alter her perception of time so she could gain a greater chance to find a way through the fan or find an alternative entrance if there was one, but even then that plan had its own flaws and risks to consider.

_Do not… worry…_

There it was again, the voice which came from deep within her mind and felt strangely connected to her Balmung sword. The voice which had been a big help to her, albeit a bit cryptic and unclear. Noire sneaked a glance at her sword, and the great blade seemed to have an… almost mystical glow to it now, one which originated from its jewel, as if the voice came from the blade itself.

_Jump… fall… ZANDATSU… trust me…_

Again, the voice spoke, and this time Noire felt SURE that it came from the blade. The reason? When it had spoken, Noire saw how the aura around the sword's jewel fluctuated like a flickering flame, only solidifying back to normal AFTER the voice had spoken. Though, Noire didn't pay this much attention after that as she sheathed the blade onto her back once again, a newfound determination exploding within her being. An explosion which knocked away any sense of doubt still remaining within her. At this point, once she had sheathed it the blackette took a few steps backwards, and then with a few deep breaths… made a run towards the edge and made a mighty leap, a resounding "HA!" escaping from her mouth all the while.

At the apex of her jump, did Noire flip backwards, doing so several times before, at the moment gravity took hold of her again, did she shift her position into a straight skydiving one, practically swan diving down towards the depths below. The air pressure from her fall caused her twintails to begin flapping about wildly behind her head, her various bangs tussling like the wild serpent hairs that legendary snake woman monster had. All the while her arms remained at her sides as she glared down towards the depths, already seeing the vague silhouette of the rapidly spinning fan coming into view.

Still, she couldn't transform for some reason, but she didn't feel like she needed it. Not with the encouragement she kept feeling from the sword Balmung which got boosted by Ashbringer. HDD was like one of those fast draining batteries in her current situation anyways, too, so there was that to consider. As she fell, Noire noticed the fan's form getting clearer and clearer as she passed into the murky yellow space surrounding the depths, a HORRENDOUS smell entering her nostrils which nearly caused her to blanch. 'Ugh, gross!' she cringed mentally, quickly activating her ZANDATSU and slowing her time perception down.

This action had the effect of slowing her fall, pretty much every movement around her which gave Noire the chance to look for anything that she could use to NOT get eviscerated by that Fan. Even in this state, Noire saw how it moved with the speed of a cheetah, far too fast for her to get through with her ZANDATSU, if she wanted to pass whole that is. 'Well, I never put much faith in falling past that fan anyways, so let' see… aha!' Soon, her work was rewarded, when she noticed a large manhole cover concealing a pipe entrance near the bottom of the chute, protruding from the left wall. Unfortunately, it was closed which meant she would need to do something before the ZANDATSU expired.

And she knew EXACTLY how to do that.

'Ugh, doesn't mean I'm gonna like it though… When I meet the boss, I'm going to have a nice 'chat' with it to express my 'gratitude' for going through all this…'

With a twist, Noire angled herself and planted her feet onto the fleshy mass, much to her internal disgust. Unsheathing Balmung, Noire glared towards the entrance, all too painfully aware of the impending end of her ZANDATSU. Unfortunately for her, Noire could only maintain this altered perception state for a limited time, just like her mentor, which is why she made sure to make everything she did in this state count. Rearing back Balmung, Noire swiftly launched a diagonal VACUUM SLASH towards the entrance, slicing through the locks on the Manhole cover and forcing it to fly right open.

Immediately afterwards, Noire bent her legs and jumped off the Tentacle Mass, flying through the air like a bullet, straight towards the Manhole cover. She swiftly grabbed onto it just as the ZANDATSU expired, finally resuming time back to normal… just a second after she had managed to close the Manhole behind her. Landing on the ground in a crouching position, Noire breathed a heavy sigh of relief, thankful that everything had gone smoothly. "Whew, that was close… if I had been a split second earlier, I'd have been shredded by that fan…" She muttered to herself, before her face cringed as a HORRENDOUS smell assaulted her nostrils.

"But eeeewwwwwwww, what is this SMELL?! I didn't notice it until now, but this smell is so… yuck! Ugh! Reminds me of sick!" Noire exclaimed, covering her nose with one hand whilst trying not to let the smell get through, though considering how much of it remained in the air, well… some of it still managed to get through the tiniest gaps into her nose, MUCH to her great displeasure. "Ugh! I know it wasn't her fault for me coming here, but darn it Chian!"

Noire knew in her soul that it wouldn't be fair to insult Chian, the one who told her about this Dungeon, since she didn't know a thing about it. But right now, this smell had been so bad that it made an entire room filled with expired, rotting food products smell delicious. So, forgive her for feeling a LITTE vindictive.

With the goal of getting out of this Dungeon as soon as possible floating through her mind, Noire hurriedly jogged through the pipe towards where she could see the exit. She would have been able to see something from where she had once stood if she had paid some attention, but in this case, getting rid of this unholy, sickening and disgusting smell found itself higher on Noire's priority list.

By the time that she had reached the end of the Pipe, Noire looked out into the new surroundings. She didn't know what to expect, honestly since these Abnormal Dungeons certainly proved their namesake, but what she saw still blew her mind away.

'Geez! First a warehouse/factory mix, and now THIS?!' the blackette shrieked as she gazed at everything she saw before her. What she had found, was what could only be described as segmented pieces of concrete and stone which would make a Temple. Platforms held by pillars connected to the ceilings laid themselves out before her like some kind of pathway, with a large wall between her and… something, something she could see in the distance.

At first, Noire couldn't quite make it out, so she had to lean forwards and squint her eyes to get a better look at whatever it was. Soon enough however, did her gaze manage to pierce through the haziness in the air somewhat to get a bit of an outline of this mystery form. It looked like some sort of… cocoon, of sorts, similar to a caterpillar or a slug… maybe even a mix of the two, it wouldn't surprise her if it was. It also looked to be the source of whatever was generating this Dungeon, and given her mental state, Noire could NOT have felt any happier. Beneath the platforms, Noire found a huge pool of golden coloured Lava-like substance, which seemed quite similar to the stuff she had seen going through the Tentacles. Plus, thee was another rapidly spinning fan there, of which the liquid flowed into like a river.

In her mind, Noire believed she had finally found the culprit, something which caused a COLLOSSAL smirk to spread onto her lips. A sense of sadistic pleasure assaulted her senses alongside the eagerness and anticipation blossoming like a well-grown flower within her chest.

Oh, she would SO be enjoying this.

* * *

After hopping down onto the first platform and striding her way over, hopping across multiple gaps all the while, Noire finally approached the Cocoon. Now that she was closer though, the blackette managed to get a better look at it, and saw that to her surprise, the cocoon-like thing seemed to be suspended up from the ceiling by these… Cable-like things, connected to this circular-like piece like those restraints one would see on wrists or circular objects. The surroundings seemed to consist of several platforms, one on each side whilst being taller than the one she strode on. The cocoon itself even had this crystalline structure protruding out of its bottom, one which oddly seemed to 'call out' to her, the more Noire thought on it, and THAT little revelation served to unnerve her a little about this thing.

Her footsteps created small echoes in the airspace around them, but it looked like the cocoon, or whatever lay within it, didn't hear her as it ruffled and shook, spewing out what looked like golden liquid. The very same liquid pouring through the fan now that she noticed…

Wait…

Liquid leaking from the body?

…

…

…

…

…

…

…Oh…

OH!

Almost INSTANTLY after a particularly 'troubling' thought entered her mind, did Noire nearly backpedal as her face lost all colour. Disgust and revulsion combined together into one heck of an unhealthy mix onto her features. Throwing up her lunch just got 1000 times harder at that moment. 'Okay, if THAT is this thing's… excrement, then HOLY HECK THAT IS DISGUSTING! Who the heck would want to drink that?! Also, what the hell is this thing anyways, I can hardly make heads or tails of it?' Noire wondered, almost gagging at the sheer disgust which swelled inside of her.

Stopping before the writing Cocoon, Noire analysed it with her senses, and almost a second afterwards did her guard suddenly shoot up, her form tensing whilst she reflexively reached behind her for Balmung and drew it from the Sheathe on her back. Thanks to her senses being honed to be able to pick up Demonic Energy through her time spent in Leanbox, Noire instantly knew from feeling this thing's energy that it was NO Abnormal. No, this thing belonged to the 'other' classification of enemy she had been fighting all this time, which spawned countless memories of her fighting for her life on a daily basis. 'This thing… this thin is a darned DEMON!' Noire shrieked mentally, grinding her teeth against one another behind her lips.

Her eyes flashed with all sorts of emotions, most of them affiliated with both panic and confusion. It wasn't as much of a surprise to her that she had encountered a Demon, since she had been fighting them for a while, but the main reason for the volcanic eruption of panic which raced through her insides was the fact that she had encountered one in LASTATION, NOT in Leanbox. Lastation enjoyed (note the sarcasm) the second largest Abnormal populations, the first being Leanbox though with the rising presence of Demonic Forces, this statement could be opened for debate any time. But, for a long time, she had not seen any Demonic beings entering her Nation, which had given Noire some sense of security for the duration of her time here. The fact that she had encountered one NOW though, served to flip those feelings onto their heads, making her wonder:

Were there more Demons?

Were there going to be followers causing Chaos in her Nation like in Leanbox?

Was Lastation going to become a Leanbox 2.0?

Not on her watch, it wouldn't!

Still, the thought of finally facing a Demon again, a Demon which could possibly be a decent opponent, it… kind of relieved her in a way. Breaking through waves and waves of Abnormals like she had been doing for a while now had slowly gotten boring for her, to the point where Noire considered hem as barely worth acknowledging anymore. What once had been fights for her life every single time when she left the city, with her increase of power she had barely any trouble facing them now. Of course, Noire remained aware that she shouldn't underestimate them like that, but Noire's competitive side just couldn't stop itself. Therefore, the chance to fight a powerful Demon really got her blood pumping.

With those thoughts in mind, Noire pushed down her disgust for the time being, reared her head back and called out to her. "So, you must be the 'Boss of this Dungeon?" she yelled, stepping towards it whilst crossing her arms under her chest with an imposing, domineering demeanour about her. Her voice just SCREAMED to bring one's attention to her, like she expected it out of the one she spoke to.

**"WHOOOOOO are YOOOOOOUUUUUUU…?"**

Soon though, the cocoon-like thing shifted about as it registered her presence at last. The bottom part of it, well, much to Noire's surprise and disgust, lifted itself upwards. The moment it did, a long, bony skeleton arm with three fingers and a thumb which possessed wickedly sharp, clawed nails burst out, pushing the cocoon upwards further to allow a head to slip out. Only then, did Noire realize that this wasn't merely a cocoon, but a creature when she saw its head pop out when it spoke. The creature's head though, it didn't look ANY less pleasant than the smell it exuded, as it looked like the deformed form of an elderly woman only with a massive red glowing forehead and cranium, as well as two larger eyeballs protruding out the sides of where the forehead would have been. There were a set of smaller eyes where normal eyes would have been on a human face, wit her mouth being circular with only a couple sharp fangs.

All in all, she looked like one ugly bug alright.

"Hmph, isn't it polite to state your own name before asking for others?!" Noire countered, scowling up at the Demon before her. Balmung and Ashbringer vibrated behind her, so she took it as a warning that something big was going to happen soon. Thus, she mentally prepared herself, as well as physically by getting ready to jump at any sign of provocation.

Good thing she did as well, considering what happened next. Lowering its head to the ground, the Demon suddenly sprouted up to 6 arms matching the one Noire had seen, 4 long ones and two smaller ones tucked in like a dinosaur (she know what those were thanks to looking on the internet, they were once primitive monsters which got annihilated by a meteor which a Goddess crashed into Gamindustri, wiping them out and allowing her people to populate). Behind her, the wall suddenly shattered, its pieces forming a spiral blockade, as though gravity itself was acting up in this crazy Dungeon. Noire didn't focus on this though, as she saw the Demonic creature swing itself up to the Platform she was on, using all four of its long on to stabilize itself by gripping the ledge.

**"WHO the FUCK are YYOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU?!"**

The Demon shrieked at her, its voice resonating throughout the entire Temple after it leaned towards Noire so their faces were inches apart. The action nearly caused Noire to backpedal from the horrible smell radiating from the Demon, before she really DID hop to the side when the Demon reared its head back with its face shifting to an uncomfortable one. Only a second later, did it spew out in a vomiting fashion a huge spew of acid, one which coated the platform. Fortunately, it didn't cover Noire or even touch her, plus the platform looked like it could handle it, since Noire still couldn't transform in here.

"Hey! Be grateful you didn't touch my dress, you big disgusting leech!" Noire shouted in annoyance and anger, fury burning within her eyes. She liked her dress, and did NOT appreciate the thought of ANY of that acidic vomit getting on her clothes, thank you very much! "Oh, and by the way, the name… is Noire! Goddess Black Heart, ruler of this Nation! Got any problem with that, Demon?!"

**"UGH… Noire…?! GODDESS…?! You mean… the place's WHOOOOOORRRRREEEEEEEE?!"**

Once again, the Demon screeched at her, spewing more vomit her way which prompted Noire to take a few steps back, so it didn't reach her. It didn't reach her again, but Noire did make a louder and angrier exclamation when it happened, just barely dodging it in time. Whilst the Demon used two of its large, clawed hands to wipe its mouth clean when it stopped vomiting, Noire glared with such hate and malice that it didn't seem too far off from the glares of those Khornate Demons assaulting Leanbox.

_Succubus… Cursed… Succubus…_

Again, the blackette heard the voice of Balmung whisper into the back of her mind, even so though Noire didn't pay as much attention to it since she was too busy fuming over the vulgarity this Demon possessed. 'This damned thing, whatever the heck its called, reminds me way to much of that midget CPU's antics back up in Celestia… the only other midget besides Neptune. One could call her the one true midget since she's so small in both forms… she always did have a vulgar mouth…' she thought whilst shuddering in revulsion, recalling Lowee's CPU back during the Console War in their former home in that plane of existence. She did often spew out vulgarities towards them, most of them being directed at Vert and her… well, chest size. Though, compared to her, this Demon DEFINITELY beat her out in profanity-based actions as even now the Demon spouted profanities which would make even the most foul-mouthed of people blush.

It wasn't like she got pissed at being called a whore or anything.

Nope, not at all!

* * *

"Hm? What is it, my Lady?"

"… For some reason, I feel like I should smash a Tsundere."

"Huh… I wonder why…"

* * *

Back with the blackette, Noire glared hatefully at the hideous Succubus before her whilst it glared right back with its nails scraping the ledge the 4 large hands gripped, her heart screaming at her to do what must be done. Noire could hardly stand the mere THOUGHT of this revolting creature, let alone the thought of it existing within her beautiful Lastation. As a CPU, as a leader of many, she despised that notion with every fibre of her being. To her, something like this represented a personal slight to her, as this succubus reminded her eerily of Avenir. Noire was no fool, the moment she heard the word 'succubus' she remembered a little tale she had once heard during her research into Spec Ops Agents, about how some Abnormals would disguise themselves as beautiful women or men, lure their victims to an isolated area then turn into their grotesque true forms, raping then devouring them. It may have been a tale, but since it was told by Spec Ops Agents from 300 years ago, Noire didn't believe there wasn't any truth to the matter.

All the more reason why she couldn't stand this creature, in her mind.

Therefore, she decided to get this all over with as soon as possible, so she could quickly cleanse her Nation of this thing's filth. This, she had decided as she stepped forwards, the back of her left hand on her left hip whilst her right remained by her side, a harsh, cold yet clear vocal tone in her following words. "Heh, Blah-blah-blah" She sneered, shaking her head with her eyes glinting maliciously and a matching smirk. "Geez, with someone as ugly as you around, no wonder this place smells." She commented, practically REVELLING in this creature's rage as she shook her head, pinching her nose with her right hand with the intent of provoking it further. Her eyes remained closed as she continued without any intent to lessen her brutal approach. "Is it just you, or is it your depression that you carry every day of your miserable life?"

**"FUCK you…!"**

The beast before her yelled that out in a burst of fury, outrage and dangerous hostility burning within all… four, of her eyes. The only reason why she assumed this creature to be female was due to how Succubus's, according to the tale, had mostly been female with few male ones called 'Incubus', at least a 90:10 ratio in favour of the Succubus's. Though, Noire wanted to piss this thing off more to provoke it into doing any number of mistakes which could help her exploit to get the opening for a killing blow, she also eyed the creature constantly for any signs of weakness. The rattling motions that she had seen, had allowed her to see a crimson spot on top of its head, which implied to her that it could be a possible weakness. The hands too, but that seemed a bit too obvious. Then here were the cables holding the creature in such a position, those seemed like breakable targets. Seeing that the beast looked angry but wanted to see it completely blinded by rage, Noire fanned the flames further. "You do that to yourself, so no need to ask me." She retorted.

**"FUCK YOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUU-BLLEEERRRRRGGGGHHHHHHH!"**

Wow, was pissing things off always this fun? The urge to grin so wide that it would split her face in half seemed quite strong right now, though she resisted it. Noire honestly never noticed, she'd always been on the receiving end of such abuse, like from Neptune always calling her lonely or a tsundere, then there were all the politicians she had to deal with over these last few weeks. Then again, maybe it was some of Nico rubbing off on her, or maybe even a combination of him and Neptune, neither of those two would let anyone badmouth them or their friends. Not in this lifetime… In any case, ticking this thing off felt almost lethargic as she stepped back a few times, unknowingly making it look like she was dancing, to avoid the incoming spew of vomit that followed from this creature' enraged shout. 'Heh, Neptune would probably make fun of its barfing habits by now, but honestly I can't think of a good barfing joke right now…'

"Wow, you must SUCK at aiming properly, is that the reason why you crap your own excrement out everywhere, cause your aiming skills suck worse than a gunman not hitting his targets at point blank range?" Noire mocked further, before shaking her in 'fake' disappointment. "Wow, you must be approaching your time already, weirdo. Guess Noire the Devil Hunter's going to get another victim, soon." Okay, she should probably stop this before she got her opponent TOO pissed off, as hilarious as it felt to actually dish this out for a change. Though, part of her couldn't help but wonder if this was really her or something else, she wasn't usually this provoking, was she?

**"You… WANT to KILL ME…?! YOU can't KILL me…! I'm 1200 years OLD!"**

"Wow, really? Man, I kinda figured you to be somewhere beyond 12,000." Noire countered, and after another bellow from the succubus, one which drove her over the edge dude to the pulsating red spot on her head, Noire drew Balmung and flipped backwards to the opposite side of the ledge. The power of the blade began to resonate, as her FAFNIR ARMOUR got deployed, turning her into her more wild appearance whilst maintaining her human form. From the looks of things, this Demon was the reason why this Dungeon prevented her from Transforming, it was a similar situation for the other Abnormal Dungeons as well since they too suppressed Share Energy. However, judging by what she had learned from Nico's reports after the Carnival of Horrors, it would seem that unlike Share Energy Demonic Power could not be suppressed by such things due to its chaotic nature.

Kinda hax, if one asked her or any gamer in that respect.

The Succubus shrieked even louder, her voice ripping through her surroundings as her temper boiled over, causing her to raise her inner right arm, clench it into a fist then smash it into the ground where Noire stood. The blackette, whom had been charging at her when this happened, slid to the side, then side flipped in order to avoid a grabbing attempt made by her inner left arm. Obviously, this did NOT please the Demon, not one bit. An aura of Demonic Energy covered her form, her eyes shining with malicious intent towards the CPU before her. The Succubus howled, lunging forwards to take a bite out of her flesh and rip a hole out of her, but Noire activated ZANDATSU at the last second, hopping up above her flesh and unleashing a flurry of slashes across the red spot on her forehead.

**"AAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH! STOP it WITH the PRICKLING, you SCRAWNY, cunt-FACED, Ass KISSING little FUCK-WHORE! I'll RIP out YOUR SLUTTY intestines and DECAPITATE you with THEM!"**

When the ZANDATSU deactivated and everything returned to normal, the Succubus howled as it punched towards Noire, the blackette raising Balmung in front of her (adding her Wings for good measure) and being sent flying towards the edge of the Platform. 'Huh, looks like in comparison to a Bloodthirster, this thing is marginally weaker. I'd say between the strength those Bloodletters and Juggernauts had, and then the Bloodthirster I fought with the other CPUs back in Leanbox.' Noire thought to herself whilst sliding to a halt across the ledge. When she eventually stopped, Noire quickly looked up when she heard sounds of rumbling, noticing how the Succubus looked to be about to vomit this time, and a rather large spit at that. 'Oh, hell no! No way am I letting you hit me with that!' she thought, narrowing her draconian eyes as she flared her wings and took to the airspace, retreating further back.

Good news, she managed to avoid the vomit as she had intended, the vomit pretty much covering the entire platform…

Bad news followed afterwards, as the massive pool of golden liquid beneath her began to roil, bubbles forming beneath Noire's floating form… before releasing a dozen or so orb-shaped projectiles her way.

'What?!'

Noire gasped in surprise when this happened, since it had never happened when she traversed the platforms. However, the blackette managed to recover in time with a quick use of ZANDATSU and flew backwards in a U Turn manoeuvre, out of the way. 'Whew, I managed to avoid them, that was close…' the black-haired CPU thought, sighing in relief with a clawed hand over her chest. 'Those projectiles came out of nowhere, it really… oh, what the hell?!' Before she could continue thinking however, Noire gasped when pillars of liquid erupted from below, barring her path. She DID manage to avoid them at the last second though.. albeit not without bits of her wings touching them and getting melted to bits by its touch. Not to mention a few quick uses of ZANTADSU for extra time to move out of the way.

'Shoot, with these acidic pillars and these projectiles, staying in the air seems to not be a good idea…' Noire thought, gritting her teeth as she flew towards the Platform which had been vomited on. Fortunately, the immense heat in this pace had quickly evaporated the liquid, allowing her to land on it with no problem. Not to mention, that all the while she had been in the air, numerous projectiles and Pillars of liquid had been launched to block her way and even to shoot her down from the skies. Her landing, therefore, wasn't a smooth one, as she rolled across the platform, looked up when she sensed killing intent, and continued the roll to avoid a fist from the Succubus.

Using the momentum, Noire got straight back up to her feet, then jumped back to avoid a wide swipe from one of the left arms. If she wanted to get in close, she would have to limit the number of arms that this thing could use, she thought, especially after dodging another fist smash by jumping sideways. Landing and sliding to a stop by jamming Balmung into the Platform, Noire quickly unsheathed Ashbringer, hurling it at the Succubus's furthest right hand. The weapon flew through the air like a throwing axe, spinning as fast enough to be a blur before it embedded itself into the hand without much difficulties. Not to mention with how fast it spun and flew, considering the large body of the succubus and her limited mobility, completely avoiding it wasn't possible.

As a result…

**"GGGGGUUUUUUUUUUUUUUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHH!"**

A shriek, full of pain and shock, ripped itself free like a prisoner breaking out their cell, from the Succubus's mouth as it fell to the ground, Ashbringer returning to Noire's waiting free hand. The blackette mentally considered attacking her with a ZANDATSU then a bunch of slashes, but there was something… else, something else she wanted to do to this bitch, yeah that's right she swore in her monologues, she didn't like swearing due to the bratty CPU, but when she got mad enough all gloves were off! 'Okay, how shall I do this… Oh yeah, that could work…!'

Her idea firmly decided within her mind, Noire chuckled to herself, feeling elation course through her at the thoughts revolving around what she would be doing next. Stepping forwards, the blackette grinned towards her enemy, her eyes shining with draconian bloodlust whilst she spoke. "Hey, ugly!" she yelled, getting the Succubus's attention whilst she ran towards it. Just when she was within a fist's distance however, she twisted to the left, pivoting a full 90 degrees before hopping, ending up in the position she wanted to freaking DROP KICK the damned Demon straight into the face. "SUCK ON THIS!"

In response to her dropp kicking her right in the face, the Succubus cried out in shock, pain and alarm as she fell down to her position at the start of this little convo, when she had looked like a cocoon hanging there like a dead corpse. Though, Noire knew that wouldn't have been the case, instead she figured that the Succubus had just became dazed from her attack. 'Not something which will last for long…' Noire thought as she got into a quick-draw type of stance, Ashbringer back onto her back whilst she used Balmung for this next attack. There wasn't enough time for her to charge up a TWILIGHT WAVE, she felt since that attack took a LOT of Share Energy to power up even to the weakest level. Therefore, she would have to take those Cables out with a VACUUM SLASH instead.

Thus, she swiftly launched two of them, slashing like an X with the first one being a diagonal upward one then the second being done after Noire twirled a full 360 degrees and slashed diagonally downwards. Both attacks flew true, like bullets fired from a sniper rifle from miles away and would be able to score a headshot. This spoke VOLUMES about the accuracy of such attacks Noire had launched, in addition to the training she had gone through to make the technique as cutting as it had been…

Only, one thing.

Apparently that kind of efficiency wasn't enough to contend with Demonic Energy, cause when they were about to cut through the Cables… a surge of Demonic Power erupted from them, forming a Barrier which the attacks dissipated on contact with.

'Tch, I should have known that this bitch would shield her weak points…!'

Noire cursed inside her mind, although she didn't have time to be idle as the Succubus was already beginning to regain her bearings. A second later did this process complete itself as the Succubus regained full clarity from the drop kick she had suffered earlier, fury soon filling its being from being struck in the face. Any shouting the Demon intended had been drowned out by the frenzied, crazy bellow she let out in a bid to express her hatred. She soon raised herself back up, howling crazily as she spewed vomit onto the Platform, covering it completely with no areas untouched.

Fortunately, Noire had managed to get off that Platform in time, as she landed on the taller left one. Something which the Succubus soon noticed as she used the various broken pillars as grappling points to hoist herself up to the Platform's ledge, bloodlust and fury shining behind her burning gazes as her larger eyeballs shifted about like an insanity-riddled lunatic. Another howl escaped her maw whilst Noire got into a battle stance with both Ashbringer AND Balmung.

**"I'll MAKE you PAY for THAT, you STINKY little PISS WEASLE!"**

"Yeah, like I'll let that happen!" Noire countered hotly, scowling as she felt the fires of rage burning inside of her. Not to mention, within the back of her mind, she could hear the sound of a dragon's growling, a confusing thing but she didn't pay it much heed at the moment. 'Alright, since I'm closer, I should be able to take those Cables, but I'll have to daze her again first. I'll have to power them up with my Share Energy as well though… Yeah, maybe that'll work!' she thought, already forming a plan of attack in her mind by the time a fist came down on her at a diagonal angle. Instead of dodging it however, Noire twisted her form through pivoting with her feet, swinging both swords at the same time. "Hyaaaaa!" she bellowed, successfully deflecting the attack away from her.

Not giving the Demon any chance to counter her, Noire swiftly followed up her actions with a ZANDATSU, and while she tried to form an ELECTRO CHARGE for good measure, the suppression on her Share Energy made it so that she could barely feel it, let alone call on it right now. 'Well, I didn't expect much from that part to begin with!' she thought, already closing the distance between herself and the Succubus. She then quickly raised both swords and began hacking and slashing away at her opponent's head. She did so like there was no tomorrow, for once forgoing technique in favour of pure, hardcore brutality. If the previous her saw the current her like this, then she'd likely be committing seppuku in dismay at the 'barbaric' behaviour she was doing.

By the time the ZANDATSU vanished Noire had finished her weapon hacking, using the creature's head as a stepping stone to flip back onto the platform. Though, her efforts had not been wasted, as she had well and truly covered that head of the Demon's in cuts both deep and shallow, causing the creature to howl in pain as it fell into that hanging position of hers. Pretty much immediately afterwards though, the sounds of something being fried like it was in a frying pan resonated throughout the area, as her energy began to mend her wounds, starting with the minor ones.

Not something Noire didn't pick up on, which got followed by her realizing that she didn't have too long to do what she needed to do next. 'Gotta act fast, don't exactly have all the time in the world here!' she thought with a determined scowl on her lips. Strapping Ashbringer to her back, Noire swiftly re-entered her quick draw stance, and once again launched a VACUUM SLASH. Only, this time, instead of focusing on slicing through BOTH cables, she focused instead on slicing through one of them, putting a BIT more force into the swing to amplify the attack's efficiency.

Fortunately for her, as time seemingly slowed to a crawl, her attack neared the energy barrier protecting the cables… this time managing to cut through one of them without any trouble.

**"GGGGGYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"**

A loud howl resonated as the Demon flailed about, its Cable falling down and left the upper half hanging from the ceiling. All the while though, the Demon forgone regenerating from its wounds in a bid of primal fury, nothing registering within its mind other than to smash that little black wearing bitch to pieces. With a mad frenzy which only got matched by a patient belonging to an insane asylum, the creature screeched and cawed like a bird while scrambling up the platform back to where Noire waited for her.


	4. Chapter 4 - A succubus's end

**Chapter 4 - A Succubus's end**

**"You CUNT-FACED harlot! I'm GOING to PEEL off YOUR arms AND legs, CHEW them UP and THEN spit THEM over YOUR putrid, UGLY FACE!"**

"Alright, I normally don't say profanities so much since it reminds me of someone unpleasant, but HAG you SO need a time out!" Noire countered furiously, yeah so furiously that smoke blew from her nose at the insulting words this thing spouted. All the while flapping her wings to take flight back to her original platform (dodging projectile and debris since the Succubus was scrambling after her). Seriously, what kind of high-class lady would take getting their face called ugly?! This bitch surely had to be begging for a high-class ass whopping!

Once she landed on the original platform, the Succubus already went on the move, swiping across the platform with both her left arms at once. Obviously, she wasn't screwing around (she never did in the first place), though neither was Noire. Especially when she switched to Ashbringer and deployed a DIVINE SHIELD. The moment her massive claws touched the golden energy surrounding the black-haired CPU, faint sparks of golden energy erupted from the points of contact, and a sizzling pain rapidly coursed through those four arms. In that moment, the claws got forced to retreat backwards, their owner shrieking furiously.

**"AAAAARRRRRRGGGGHHHHH! You COCK-sucking WORM! You FILTHY, sleezy MAGGOT! I'LL rip YOUR head OFF, spit DOWN your NECK, while FILLING it WITH my OWN piss!"**

Whilst screeching with a tone so high even Bats would flee in distress, the Succubus responded to this defence by spewing vomit onto the Platform, causing Noire to drop the DIVINE SHIELD in order to ascend upwards then come back down into a forward flip motion and ending up slamming the back of her left heel right into the centre of the creature's head. This caused her head to smack into the Platform's ledge, but she simply bounced back with an angry screech, lifting both her left and right inner arms to try and smash them into the blackette from above. Noire hopped backwards just as her toes touched the ground, barely avoiding the arms in time before she jumped right forwards again, rebounding straight into a flying drill kick into its face again.

Flipping away from her, ZANDATSU activated as she unsheathed her Ashbringer, wielding both it and Balmung. With both swords in hand, Noire spun like a sausage to become a blur as she sliced through the creature's face with no restraint, wanting to practically carve that damned ugly mug right off. By the time that Noire had her Skill deactivated, she found the Succubus having retreated into the large, caterpillar/slug-like body of hers, much to the CPU's dismay. "Oh come on, you're acting shy NOW of all times?!" She yelled mockingly as she swung Balmung several times, a barrage of VACUUM SLASH attacks flying towards the creature.

Said creature saw the approaching attacks coming however, having learned from the previous instances of when they had been used against her. Thanks to this information, the Succubus responded just as promptly as Noire launching them, which resulted in each of them getting slammed into her arms that had been surrounded by barriers made from Demonic Power. A smug smirk emerged from her lips at this action, thinking that this would destabilize Noire's resolve, though it faded soon after when she sensed no changes in her mental state. In fact, it could be said that the sight pretty much made her even MORE determined to wreck her ass…

Especially with what she did next.

Breaking into a sprint after bending her legs, Noire broke into a mad dash, rushing straight towards the Succubus like a bat out of a cave and using her wings to block several swiping attacks made by her claws. With what she intended, she had to get in close to make it work… plus, something about getting up close and personal just seemed all the more satisfying to her, especially in this state. That was largely the reason why she didn't use guns all that much. She knew how to operate them, as after all someone as great as herself could only do everything, but it was mostly preference towards the sword. Sensing that there would be hell to pay if she were to let Noire get too close to her like what happened earlier, the Sucubus screeched at her, generating a shockwave thanks to the sheer intensity of her voice which succeeded in blowing her backwards… for only a brief second before she jumped right back.

Instead of landing on the Succubus though, Noire instead… landed right in front of her. A surprised sound escaped the Demon's lips as she wondered what the fuck was running through Noire's mind, but instead dismissed it a second later. Raising a right claw, the Demon let out a banshee-like shriek as she brought it down in a swiping motion, intending on cleaving he blackette's head off. However, just as the claw made to connect, one of Noire's wings backhanded it, right before Noire swiftly twisted on her left foot and launched her right in a side kick, slamming it right into the side of the Succubus's jaw.

Pain shot through the Succubus's body from the point of impact, the feeling of her jaw being dislocated travelling through her nerve system as she howled with pain, falling to down to the Platform's ledge. Noire didn't stop there though, as she quickly sheathed Balmung onto her back, cracking her knuckles in preparation for what was about to come. "Bitch, I'm SO going to enjoy this…" she commented with a smirk, one which carried bits of both bloodlust and… well, what could only be described as primal savagery. Rearing her right fist back, Noire let out a loud battle cry as she jumped upwards, launching a vicious uppercut which connected with he dazed Succubus's chin and knocked her up with her. Noire then finished the job by throwing a left jab, slamming it right into the Demon's face. Bones shattered beneath her fist's actions as the Succubus screamed, falling down into her original hanging position to let her Demonic Power recover.

Not something Noire planned on wasting an opportunity to allow the Succubus to do though, so she quickly spread her wings in order to fly towards the sole remaining taller platform, avoiding the projectiles and golden pillars all the while. Although, near the end of her flight the blackette saw a pillar nock one of her wings, resulting in her flight path becoming unstable and resulting her to crash onto the platform, rolling to a halt. 'Argh! Should have been able to avoid that last one…!' Noire cursed herself, although she felt that, to her surprise she had suffered barely any damage whatsoever. 'Huh, the endurance this blood gives me is no joke…'

With that thought in mind, the black-haired Goddess got to her feet and swung Balmung while unsheathing it, in order to save time so the Succubus wouldn't be able to recover in time. As a result, Noire smirked darkly when she saw her VACUUM SLASH manage to cut through the other cable. 'Yes! The other one's gone! Once I find out how to separate this bitch from that last one holding her… Tail, tip whatever, she'll fall into that golden liquid, then she'll get a taste of her own medicine for a change!' Needless to say, Noire felt QUITE vindictive thanks to all the projectiles and pillars she'd had to dodge throughout this whole fight. She'll get her payback soon, she swore it!

But for now…

**"FFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK! You DISGUSTING fuckchild! I'M going to PULL off your HEAD, piss DOWN your NECK and SHIT on your WORTHLESS CARCASS!"**

'Almost done!' Noire thought as the Succubus raised her fists to smash the platform to nothingness as well as taking her along with it. However, just at the last second Noire had managed to fly away in time, landing on the original platform before twirling around (unknowingly stylishly avoiding a few boulders which were hurled her way) as she got into her fighting stance. The blackette immediately got the feeling that this would be the home stretch, not only did the Succubus look like she was getting tired with all the rating, raving and panting she was doing, but also the fact that her body wasn't healing as quick as it did before. If she had been able to use her full power in this Dungeon, then she'd likely have been able to deal with her much quicker, maybe even a one shot kill.

Still, not like she would find any use crying over spilled milk.

With that in mind, Noire sidestepped an overhead smash, slicing through the attacking fist's wrist all the while. The Succubus gave a pained growl at this, swiping across the platform several times before bringing all four fists down on her at once. In response to these attacks, Noire flipped over the first two, flared her wings to deflect the second two, and launched a VACUUM SLASH towards its face to stop the last attack from being carried out. This resulted in the Succubus crying out as it covered its face, since that had been where her attack had hit.

Not like it particularly favoured getting hit in the face, as the Succubus swiped one arm in the space above the Platform, with another swiping beneath it. This made Noire pump more energy into her legs, bending them whilst a panel formed beneath her feet. With a mighty leap, the blackette leapt high into the air with a mighty war cry erupting from her throat. During the mid-flip she pulled to avoid the upper arm's swipe, Noire suddenly remembered something. Her eyes widened in surprise, heck she even made the 'oh yeah!' look appear on her facial features. 'Hey, why didn't I remember THAT weapon? The weapon I got from Leanbox during the Gala?' she wondered, feeling like she should curse herself the following second. 'Ugh, can't believe I forgot about it…'

"Alright you bitch, since you have such a foul mouth, I think you could do with being fried to a crisp!" Noire yelled as she landed on the ground and threw her right arm upwards. Her arm began to glow as something began to manifest over it, shining so brightly that it illuminated the entire temple and forced the Succubus to cover her eyes with a loud howl of frustration. "Come, RAIJIJN!"

FLASH!

In a bright flash, out appeared a certain item that Noire possessed: an Item which she gained at the previously mentioned events at Leanbox. When the flash faded away, the result was that a white, gauntlet-like item had appeared over her right forearm, a long Tail-like appendage shooting out of it to wrap around her upper bicep all the way to the back of her head. Noire didn't even flinch when she felt it connect directly to her brain, she'd used this thing way too many times for her to have that kind of reaction to it anymore.

Raijin: a special Gauntlet that had the ability to generate and manipulate Lightning itself. It was a treasure which Vert had let her have during the Demonic Invasion of Leanbox when they literally had their pants down At least, that was how she, and a LOT of high-ranking officials, saw it. Though, Noire didn't exactly blame anyone for their lack of preparation for it, no she blamed the ones who allowed it to happen, which had a strong difference to it. In essence, she blamed those who followed the forces of Chaos, a term which described those like the Northmen or the World Eaters. Heck, even the Northmen and Maghda (although nobody had seen her for a long time, like she'd gone completely dark) weren't isolated rom that term.

Anyways, this thing granted her the ability to control Lightning that it generated, and while she hadn't used it as much in comparison to Balmung or Ashbringer, Noire STILL knew how to work it as well as any other sword she possessed. It was something which her mentor installed into her during their training, to be as proficient with as many weapons as possible as it could potentially save her from a life or death situation. Coming from someone who had experiences with dozens of weapons himself even though he primarily used a sword, that said a lot.

Up until now though, she hadn't been using this thing because… well, she'd forgotten that she'd had it. Not because tits abilities were weak or anything, far from it as during her fights in Leanbox after the Gala she'd found how this thing's power easily charred Demons, World Eaters even the Northmen to ashes when they connected with its Lightning. She didn't even need to consider whether or not it could hurt Abnormals. It was essentially just as much a part of her as her other weapons. These facts returned to her mind, but they just served to make her feel more like an idiot than anything else.

'Well then, since we need to make up for lost time…!' Noire thought as she reared her right arm backwards. Since this would be the first time she'd used this in this Abnormal Dungeon, why not make it a special one? That was her thought process, and this gauntlet, connected to her brain, almost seemed to thrum with joy as if it could read her thoughts. She wouldn't have been surprised if that was the case, since it was indeed connected to her brain. Even now, the Gauntlet already began draining her Share Energy from her being to fuel its own power, like it was using her and not the other way around.

But, in her eyes… that would only remain so as long as she allowed it.

Thing was, Noire had learned much about this weapon, and whilst she didn't know EXACTLY where it came from, she had calculated that it was likely demonic in origin. In fact, the same could be said for every item they found in Vert's Basilicom Vault. In Raijin's case, this item held some sort of bestial sentience, and as a result this rebellious one sometimes tried to tug away at her energy against her will. This was done by it connecting to her brain regardless of it being her will or not, and then draining every last drop of her energy to cause as much destruction as possible. It was like having to contain a massive whirlpool of suction, a whirlpool which pulled everything she had into its depths with no way to escape it. Only be proving herself superior to it could Noire have hoped to stop this from happening whenever she used it, and Noire had done her damned best to do exactly that. Thus, it has resulted in her dominating it and making the item submit to her, thus eliminating the problem. Even now, as the item remained connected to her brain, it tried to 'tug'' a little more forcibly than normal like a child begging its parents to get it something, though not too much as it knew what would happen if it tried anything funny.

Even with this flaw though, Noire didn't see it as anything inferior to the two swords which served as her primary weapons. Thus, she proved it when she flexed her hand and allowed the violently crackling Lightning arcing over the Gauntlet to gather above it. There, the lightning condensed and concentrated itself under the Item's will, before with a loud cry from Noire: "KYOURAI!" The Item known as Raijin almost howled like a wolf, releasing huge arcs of wild, unfocused and savage lightning blasts all around her.

These blasts resembled the size of single decker buses, flying through the atmosphere and reaching the very corners of the Temple… and unfortunately for the Succubus, she would NOT be able to avoid them. Not when she had been hung suspended by that last cable by the tail, and thus she got hit.

**"GGGGGYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!"**

The Succubus hooted and howled in extreme agony, an uncountable number of volts racing through her system and electrifying every internal organ she possessed. Where there weren't any, muscle tissue, bone, blood vessels anything touched by the Lightning she got hit by, would be charred beyond recognition. Heck, Noire swore she saw the Demon's skeleton in there, blinking as it flashed in and out of sight… though, did Demons have Skeletons? Noire wasn't as sure, as she cut the power flow (to Raijin's dismay). This allowed her to see her opponent, and just how damaged she had become.

** "AGH… GYAH… AGH… UURRGH…!"**

CRACK…CRACK…CRACK…!

… Yeah, this thing definitely wanted some exercise, Noire thought with a sweat drop. 'Wow… I KINDA get the feeling this was overkill…' she thought, looking at the smoking, charred form of the Demon which slumped on the platform. The Demon lay there motionless, with its eyes wide open like circles, with what looked like its soul leaving its body as it moaned in agony. 'Guess Raijjin wanted to vent its frustration about being forgotten for so long… if its sentient and has seen me fighting so many battles without using its power… yikes.' The blackette thought while wincing. Part of her couldn't help but feel a brief spark of pity for this creature, especially if it was truly experiencing the wrath of a frustrated item like Raijin. It never DID like pulling its punches, not even against the weakest of opponents, though in a sense that was the same with Lightning itself. It only went a certain way, never changing its course. Seeing it like this, Noire recalled what had happened between them so far… and then she formed a tick mark on her forehead.

CRACK…CRACK…CRACK… CRACK…CRACK…CRACK…!

"Oi! Get up, you sissy! You have got to have more than this right?! Really, for someone who was so confident earlier, where's all that bravado now?!" she yelled angrily, hearing a faint growl from the Demon. She didn't want it to die just yet, not when she hadn't gotten a chance for it to receive the payback she craved from it! She still had plenty of vengeance left in her, and this bitch was going to help her relieve herself of ALL of that stuff, goddess darn it!

CRACK…CRACK…CRACK… CRACK…CRACK…CRACK… CRACK…CRACK…CRACK…!

**"…DAMN… slut…!" **

The Demon apparently either felt the same way, or still had some juice left in her, as she recovered somewhat from that arrange of Lightning blasts, her slug/caterpillar like body no longer smoking from the damage done… though, her form remained sporting that charred appearance. The creature's arms looked like they were in the process of being broken down into tiny pieces with how cracked they looked, though the Demon showed few signs of noticing or even caring at this point. Right now, all it wanted to do, was to utterly rip Noire into bloody pieces, she could tell just by the frenzied look in her eyes.

Just then, a part of her acknowledged something which had been happening for a while now, but it had escaped her notice until this very moment. 'Hang on, where were those cracking sounds coming from? They sound like straps falling apart…' Noire wondered, confusion filling her being. For a while now, there had been faint cracking sounds, and she got the feeling they were metallic in origin. But, where could they have come from? Why were they happening? The second one though, she felt was an easier question to answer, as the answer lay coiled around her arm. The first one? Whole different story… that is, before her eyes widened when she glanced behind the massive Demon's damaged form. 'Wait, don't tell me that…!'

Unfortunately, just before the Succubus could attack Noire again or the CPU could do anything…

SNAP!

The sounds of loud snapping could be heard from behind the Succubus, which came from the last thing which suspended her up in the air. Turned out, that the Demonic Power which protected it from attacks… well, that flimsy defence go absolutely WRECKED by the blasts from the Lightning. That was what Noire realized the moment that it happened as she glanced down to her Gauntlet while the final restraints got shattered under the weight they were previously holding, realizing just the extent of the power this thing wielded. A question she had been asking many times before once again popped into her mind: where did this item come from? I couldn't have been found anywhere on Gamindustri, the Basilicoms or the Guilds would have known about it if that were the case, so would the Demons know of it?

Well, she would have to figure that out later, since the Succubus' eyes filled with panic as her replaced the anger. That face one makes when their parents walk in when their kid was doing their… secret stuff, that was the face Noire saw appear on the Succubus' features thanks to this action. Not only that, but the frantic panic she expressed caused the crystalline object on top of her to crack, which drew her attention. 'Huh? What the…?'

Before Noire could figure out what that was all about, the blackette noticed the platform near her feet beginning to break away, so in a split-second decision she chose what to do, and hopped backwards. Once she landed, the blackette noticed that the Succubus was unable to get to her, and the panic-driven motions caused the crystalline structure to crack several more times. Startled cries of fear and dread released themselves from her throat. In front of her, thanks to the sudden shift in weight, the Succubus scrambled with all six of her Arms like a cat trying to get up a ledge, a ledge which began to shatter under the newfound strain which resulted in her falling into the lake below.

For a moment, Noire remained idle as her mind tried to process what she had just seen. 'Wow… that was… kinda pathetic. I mean, falling into your own garbage… that's just nasty.' Noire commented in her mind, and deep down the rumbles she felt from the links she had to her item and Swords told her they agreed. That death this Succubus had right now did NOT seem like a perfectly healthy way to go, not like simply dying on a deathbed or on the battlefield. Then again though, it wasn't like she cared much, it was a Demon after all. She didn't have all that much incentive to care about it, especially since it attacked her like every Demon before her.

Just then however, a faint flash of light caught her attention. It came from down below, so when Noire looked towards the ground beneath her feet, the blackette's eyes zoned in on something, something which so happened to be embedded into what remained of the Platform. 'Huh?' Curiosity soon swelled within her chest, prompting Noire to kneel down and pick up the item, easily prying it out from the platform's grasp in order to bring it to her eye level to examine it. "What is this…?"

What she had picked up, well, Noire soon realized it to be an Amulet of some kind… although, she had to admit it was definitely one well-crafted Amulet. It was at least the size of her hand, and upon closer inspection it looked to be a half of an Amulet… yet even so, the red gem which stayed in the middle rivalled her hand in size. It looked to be clad in a black, glistening crystal frame, with a matching chain hanging from atop it. It sort of reminded her of some of the Hellgates she'd seen in Leanbox, but more… beauty-focused, if that was even a word. It was like this thing was to be made by a brilliantly skilled jewel crafter for his missus, its shimmering splendour practically captivated the black-haired Goddess. 'This is… Wow, I've never seen anything like this before…' Noire thought in amazement, her mouth forming an 'O' shape as she stared downwards at the Amulet. Beautiful didn't feel like the best word to describe the beauty this piece of jewellery, heck even though she'd lived a semi-luxurious life since coming back from Celestia, Noire still found herself swept off her feet by this accessory's beauty.

Well, not like she'd ever admit it, even if it was a common trait that girls tended to like nice jewellery.

And yet, despite her fondness for the Amulet… Noire still couldn't help but be confused as well as mystified. Such a beautifully, well-crafted Amulet should NOT have been in the Succubus's possession. It just felt… wrong, for some reason. For such an item to be with a foul-mouthed, vulgar, arrogant and disgusting bitch like her… wow, Noire suddenly got the impression that the phrase 'beauty and the beast' suddenly had a whole new meaning. Not sure whether she should be happy about that or not, but as she gazed at the Amulet, Noire decided not to think about it too much. Besides, something of beauty like this deserved to be in far more capable hands. Like hers for example.

Looking back towards where the Succubus fell, Noire narrowed her eyes at it, sheathing Balmung onto her back. Her FAFNIR ARMOUR vanished, returning her to her base human form whilst she stepped closer to the ledge. Leaning forwards, she looked down towards the golden liquid below, and sneered mockingly down there at what she assumed would be that Demon's resting place. "Burn in hell, bitch." She spat, before huffing and turning on her heels. Noire began to walk away from the scene, heading back towards the entrance Pipe while tying the Amulet around her neck. She guessed she could take it back then examine it further, heck if this were an official quest, this monster drop would be classed as a fine reward for her. 'Wonder if it carries bonuses to my stats like in the games…?' the blackette CPU though to herself in amusement, chuckling in the matching emotion.

Hopping across the gap between the platform and the large wall, Noire walked through the thin corridor to the other side, humming in her victory. Her hands crossed together behind her back whilst she tilted her body from side to side, losing any sense of danger from this place. A similar sense of pride and satisfaction came from both her swords as well as Raijin, which had disconnected from her Brain and now had its Tail merely wrapped around her arm. Pride swelled within her chest like it was its own beating heart, a common trait for Latation's CPU. She felt like she had accomplished something grand today, got to put down the Demon whom had pissed her off so royally, and even had a nice piece of jewellery to show for it. How could she NOT be happy?

She also felt like she had managed to save a LOT of lives today thanks to going through all this. Now that this Abnormal Dungeon was cleared, she could send soldiers to occupy it and keep it clear of any normal Monsters which tried to come by, she'll even place a few Spec Ops Agents here as a reserve force in case any Abnormals or Demons showed up, at least then the lives of her people will be preserved around that region of her Landmass.

Chian would also be able to conduct her business like normal with this Dungeon taken care of, her clients and business partners would be able to work around this region's dangers with relative peace of mind. That part, as much as Noire didn't want to say it out loud, it held even more impact than just saving her people. Perhaps it was due to how much Chian had done for her on a personal level, and whilst she knew it wasn't a good idea for a leader to favour one person over a whole Nation, she still felt like that towards the Mechanic. She felt the same toward even Neptune of all people, her party included. They had all helped her learn what a CPU should be, including what one should NOT be.

These thoughts filled her mind as she strolled towards the opposite end of the wall-like platform, intending to jump to the next one, and then do the same to the next one before hopping up to the pipe. All with the help of her jumping Panels, by the way, somethings he planned on investing some training time in. If she could use them for jumping, what else could she have them do?

Just before she could take another step however….

**"GUUUUUUUAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!"**

In seconds, the blackette stumbled back, a sharp surprised sound escaping from her throat. 'Oh, you have GOT to be kidding me?!' Noire shrieked inside her mind, spreading her legs apart whilst her right hand reached behind her for one of her swords, she didn't exactly care which one. Heck, the Raijin suddenly hissed, Lightning crackling over it whilst it dug its Tail into her bran once again, ready to be unleashed. The reason? Up before her, the Succubus from earlier had instantly shot up from beneath the platform, causing it to explode into many large pieces of debris. The creature's eyes looked to be crimson red from the rage which flowed through its veins.

The whole platform shook and trembled like it got hit by a powerful earthquake, stopping Noire from drawing a sword from her back or unleashing any Lightning, something which the Succubus took the opportunity to exploit by raising one of her left arms for an overhead punch. For a moment, Noire sensed immediate danger from that punch, much more than what there had been before, and attributed it to how there had been much more Demonic Power focused into it than normal. As the punch descended down towards her, Noire quickly thought up a counter method, and just as quickly hopped into the air to escape the punch's trajectory.

Instead, the punch landed right on the remains of the platform, causing it to crumble down and fall to the pool of golden acidic liquid below in pieces. All the while, Noire had back flipped through the air, and tried to aim the arm possessing Raijin to try and blast the Succubus to kingdom come while in the air. Unfortunately for her, there was too much falling debris getting in the way of her shot, something she noted with a venomous hiss. "Shoot, looks like I can't get a clean shot off!" she spat, a heavy and lethal scowl planting itself on her lips.

_…Final hurdle… soon…_

The distorted, disembodied voice once again spoke through her mind, filling her with a sense of calmness and composure as Noire fell to the pool below, landing on one of the pieces. Before her, the Succubus had crashed into the pool as well. None of the former platform pieces being strong enough to support her weight. It didn't look like the acidic properties within the liquid bothered her however, merely increased her irritation by a mild amount. Behind them, Noire spotted the rotating Propellers which funnelled the liquid into itself, spinning so fast that she got reminded of blades being swung on a battlefield.

'Well, I know how I'M going to finish this hag off…'

Those thoughts filled her mind as Noire scowled at her enemy, drawing her Ashbringer and Balmung together whilst getting into a combat stance.

**"I toooold YOOOOUUUUUU…!"**

Instead of just laying there in the pool to let herself get sucked to the fan however, the Succubus grabbed onto a pile of rubble which had been built up beside her, using it to climb over to Noire's platform piece like a spider would when hunting its prey. Loud, glutaral and feral growls reminiscent of a frenzied animal escaped her mouth as she raced towards Noire with the intent of ripping her a new one. Glancing to the side and noticing another platform, Noire smirked to herself as, instead of activating her FAFNIR ARMOUR, she just formed a panel beneath her feet and… jumped. The Succubus, seeing that her prey was getting away, scrambled like ad as she tried to swipe at her whilst she remained airborne. Although, that just ended up being futile thanks to Noire's stylish acrobatic skills allowing her to flip over each claw as they attempted to grab her, resulting in her landing on a platform closer to the fan than before.

**"YOOOOOUUUU can't KIIIIILLLL MEEEEEEEEEEEE…!"**

Again, the Succubus screamed as she scrambled to shift her massive slug/caterpillar body around to give chase to the black-haired CPU, screeching and cawing like a vulture noticing that their prey was getting away. Demonic Power leaked from her form like a thick fog, cloaking her and making her look like some sort of fiery elemental having crawled out from the depths of hell itself, eager to return with some unlucky souls with the misfortune of encountering it.

'Heh, cool a fire show…'

Meanwhile, a totally nonchalant Noire made to launch a few VACUUM SLASH attacks at her… when she noticed that one of the pieces the Succubus used to hold herself whilst moving towards her position… seemed to be a 'bit' unstable and seeing as how it seemed integral to the Succubus's offensive, an insidious idea came to mind.

'That sounds promising… time to change targets!'

"Heh, why don't we take you on a nice trip, witch?! Your very LAST one, to be precise! HAH!" Noire thought this in her mind, resisting the urge to cackle like a maniac as she yelled at her opponent, a vicious smirk on her lips. She then swung her blades like an X, sending two VACUUM SLASH attacks towards one of the debris pieces the Succubus used for balance… the one beneath her left claws.

BOOM!

The attacks hit their marks, allowing the debris to go by bye, and for the Succubus to fall back into the Pool whilst getting draw in by the current rushing towards the fan, scrambling about like a mad woman all the while.

**"YOU…! LITTLE!"**

Screaming at the top of her lungs seemed to be the default way of speaking for this Demon, huh? Before, there were some differences to the volumes to dictate her mood, kind of like how all Demons that Noire had encountered spoke, but right now this thing just seemed lost in a blood rage of sorts. As the Succubus's body flipped around like a cooking-in-progress sausage (something which Noire would have snorted in amusement at if she were anyone else and things weren't so dire), she crashed into what remained of a support pillar which allowed her to regain herself and stand atop another pile of debris. Howls and cries of anger exploded from her mouth as she made her way towards Noire's platform again, since the only thing that separated them was one small piece of a pillar.

**"I'M… GONNA…! AAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH…!"**

With fury dictating her actions like a damn tyrant, the Succubus howled as she leapt towards Noire's position. A look of wild and bloodlust-fuelled insanity appeared on her face. The Succubus may as well have lost her sanity at this point thanks to this disgusting CPU… not like Noire cared though. She already had a means to counter the woman as she… simply sheathed her swords onto her back and activated her FAFNIR ARMOUR, feeling the Abnormal Blood once again infuse itself with her system. A whole surge of different emotions exploded within her heart, but Noire paid them little heed for now…

Since she had the task of back flipping, driving her foot into the Succubus's jaw and knocking her into the opposite direction to do.

A loud, ear-rape type scream escaped from the creature's lips when this happened. The foot which had impacted her jaw felt like one HELL of a sledgehammer smashing apart the bones where it had struck, forcing the Succubus to cough up blood and saliva. Not to mention, it stopped her from ripping Noire apart… as well as knocked her right smack dab into the golden liquid. Its current got even stronger where she was, much to her shock and confusion, which mixed together with the anger inside of her gut. Though, she didn't have any time to do much more than furiously shriek as she slammed into another pile of debris.

Though, unlike before, the moment the Succubus's body slammed into this pile, the sheer impact and size of the force which slammed into it, caused the pile to scatter into dozens of smaller pieces, save for a short pillar which the Succubus grabbed onto it. Two of her claws launched forth like the hands of the abyss, grasping onto it with just enough force to resist the current. The rest of her body? It swayed from one side to another like a 2AM drunk. All the while, despite her weakened state, the Succubus scowled in Noire's direction with her anger fuelling her energy at this moment.

**"ARGH! FUCK! FUCK-FUCKING COCK EATING SHIT! SLUTTY BITCH! WHY… WON'T YOU… JUST FUCKING DIE… ALREADY?! YOU SICK… DISGUSTING, SLUT-FACED HOEBAG!"**

"Okay, now look, you could REALLY do with a chill out, lady!" Noire shouted, twitching her brow madly in indignant fury at all the profanity being thrown her way. Though in hindsight, perhaps it didn't matter at this point, since the final portion of this little scuffle was already at hand between them. This would be something every sentient weapon she possessed showed its agreement with her by sending similar emotions through her system. With this in mind, Noire acted upon this state the Succubus found herself in.

Glancing forwards, she saw a smaller platform to the one she was on now, one with just a TINY small pillar attached to it… but the most important thing: it was located right smack DAB in the way of the propellers. Upon seeing it, it was almost as if a lightbulb went off above her head as an idea came to mind, one which made a mischievous smile form on her mouth as Noire took a few steps back. This wasn't unnoticed by the Succubus, as evident by the disgruntled sound of questioning and confusion that she released. "Hag, do you now what your problem is?!"

After yelling that out, Noire broke into a mad sprint, a Panel forming at the edge of the platform which she stepped on. The moment she did, Noire yelled out a battle cry as she hopped into the air towards the platform, with the Succubus screaming as she lunged towards her by letting go of the previous pillar, swinging one of her claws in an attempt to smack her into the pool of golden liquid. Unfortunately for her, Noire activated her ZANDATSU right at the last second, shifting her position in mid-air while drawing Balmung, before immediately slashing up the hand it used. When everything resumed, the hand looked to be covered in dozens of cuts and its fingers were severed, causing the Succubus to cry out in agony. Even so, she still managed to grab onto the smaller Platform's Pillar in time before she could get sent to Davy Jones Locker.

Upon landing on the Platform, her lips twisted into one HELL of a malicious smile, one which she aimed at the Succubus who paled in horror, especially as dreaded realization dawned on her in the form of the fact that she had been cornered. In her mad rage, she had failed to realize that she had been played by Noire's hand the very MOMENT from when she surfaced for their final bout. She wouldn't have even noticed either until now, since she'd been so blinded by her fury. Whelp, sucks to be her, that was what remained unspoken between the two, as Noire raised Balmung and brought it down on the pillar, a downright sadistic smile on her face as she predicted what would happen next. "Your JUST. DOWNRIGHT. TOO. **CLINGY!"**

With that said, Noire hopped backwards as she watched the show play out before her. The Succubus, now aware of its imminent demise, screamed out like a banshee one last time as the current forcefully pulled her towards the Pillars, her many limbs flailing about in a pathetic attempt to swim to safety as her form entered the range of the rotating propellers. Sounds of chopping could be heard, resembling that of when a carrot or another type of vegetable being chopped up into pieces whilst the Succubus's body got ripped apart without any kind of mercy. A brutal, merciless end for a Demon, something part of Noire readily admitted, though for the constant vulgar insults and the fact that it made her go through so much shit, Noire didn't feel all too sympathetic towards it.

* * *

"Wow, now THAT's what I call getting all 'mixed up'. Talk about mixed signals, huh? Whelp guess she'll have to get going like all 'chop, chop' now…" Noire spoke, before her face twisted into an ugly grimace, causing her to groan in irritation whilst face palming herself. "Ugh, I regret saying those words now…" she moaned pathetically whilst mentally thanking lady luck that NOBODY was around to hear her make those cringy puns. 'Then again, are puns inherently cringy in the first place? Isn't that like their job?' she wondered mentally, before shaking her head to get rid of those thoughts. Now wasn't exactly the best time for this, as she needed to get out of this Dungeon since she'd destroyed the boss. Something which she could NOT help but feel all too giddy about.

As she beamed happily and mentally celebrated her success, Noire's eyes fell onto the shift of the sheathed Balmung on her back, and once they did, her eyes narrowed as she thought back to one of the abilities she had from it. 'This blade… with all the mysteries surrounding it, the FAFNIR ARMOUR easily has one of the most mysterious qualities around it…' she thought, remembering the ability. Aside from donning an Armour/suit mix, this FAFNIR ARMOUR infused her body with the blood of an Abnormal, and obviously one of the more powerful ones if what she felt whenever she used it was any indication. Not only that, but whenever she fused with this blood, it always, ALWAYS no matter what she did to stop it, influenced her personality like her HDD form.

It brought out the more… primitive aspects of her personality, turning her from a prideful woman into a downright SAVAGE warrior queen with no hesitation on butchering her opponents. More than once, Noire had felt herself get lost in the euphoric sensations of being fused with that blood and going on a warpath, which had worried her at first until she had eventually forced herself to get used to it. Still, she indeed still wished to know more about that blood as even when it fused with her, the fusion never stayed permanent and would diffuse whenever she dismissed the Armour, something she found herself thankful for. That, and what kind of Abnormal this blood had come from.

It was like something she had once heard: Blood is the essence of the soul, the vehicle of life. So, for her to have another being's blood in her was essentially carrying another being within herself. Noire wanted to know WHAT had been infused with her countless times, and by the Goddesses she would eventually get some answers one way or another. At east with the knowledge, she'd be able to better protect her Nation from attackers. Thinking back to everything she had seen since she returned from Celestia, Noire felt her eyes harden into a steely look, her fists clenching so tight that they would have bled if they were normal hands. An aura of agitation and grim acceptance formed around her being, reflecting her emotions over this particular truth.

Strength would forever be the dominating factor in this current Gamindustri.

This fact became known to her shortly after she'd returned to her Nation from the Console War. It was a fact which she hadn't really acknowledged at the time, using the matters of Lastation as an excuse. Noire was no fool, she had seen just how effective strength could be in several forms. the raw strength the Abnormals possessed, along with the Demons later on, that was physical strength in a nutshell. Physical strength could take one far in life, as that kid of strength always stunned those around them, making them treat those who had this strength with the utmost respect for fear of being ruthlessly massacred by that person. This was the strength that the many Demons she had encountered through her lifetime as a Goddess showed her they coveted, this would be the ONLY kind of strength that they respected. Truly a primitive, yet still impactful, truth to accept... something which she had been forced to accept everything in Leanbox. Mundus had been the final nail in the coffin for her, the sheer STRENGTH he possessed had pretty much engraved itself into her being, leaving no room for her to resist it.

Then, there was political strength, and BOY did Noire have experience with that. She knew political strength, and this kind had several differences compared to physical strength. For one, political strength didn't rely on brute force or the swing of a weapon, but from words and connections. The world of politics was similar to the primitive savagery of the Demons in that respect, how companies and businesses do whatever they can to stay on top whilst looking down on the smaller, weaker companies. That had been pretty much the overview of what Avenir had been doing for a long time now, though thanks to Noire's own efforts much of their political power had been retrieved from them and restored back to the Basilicom, which had been emptied of their goons and replaced with her own faithful flowers, as it should have always been. She'd seen it in even greater quantities in Leanbox, with all the Nobles vying for power, rank and prestige in Leanbox's Monarchy-based Society. Power was an attractive, seductive mistress, during even the purest of souls into its embrace, with these Nobles having revelled in their political power for countless generations.

But, in Noire's eyes?

Political and Physical Strength were, at their core foundations, not really that different.

However, Noire also knew another truth: that Leaders had to have both these types of strength in spades in order for them to be recognized and respected by other leaders. They needed great connections to other leaders, the absolute loyalty of their subordinates, and they also needed great powers to showcase just what would happen I anyone dared to mess with what she held dear. If she were to compare herself to anything, then she'd say that she would be a dragon, protecting her Nation like one would a horde of treasure, their reverse scale. Lastation would be her reverse scale, and ANYTHING which dared to threaten it would be met with no mercy from her. That was a truth which she had learned long after Halo Mountain, as well as inspired her to continue her relentless training. She needed to re-evaluate herself, getting stronger than anything under Celestia's watchful gaze. She needed to break every kind of limit she had, for without strength one cannot truly protect anything. Anyone who treated her with respect, she would treat in kind, and if anyone dared to mess with what she considered precious... well, there would not be anything left of them once she got her hands on them.

Just as she made to leave the area for good however, Noire suddenly stopped when she sensed something off. Something which came from behind her back. 'Huh? What s this feeling...? It feels like somethings stirring from a great abyss or something along those edgy lines...' she thought to herself, though she didn't resist the urge to act upon it. Confused, she glanced behind her at her back, finding that the source came from Balmung. The sword, sheathed within its long scabbard, constantly thrummed like it was humming a song, trembling on her back whilst bathing itself in a silvery glow. Not to mention, a similar glow overtook the remains of the Succubus, something which only added to her bafflement.

"What the heck?"

For some reason, Noire felt like she had been saying and thinking those words a lot today.

This lasted only for a moment, but in that moment Noire felt like something POWERFUL had been happening. At the end of it, a formless mass erupted from the Succubus's corpse, a mass which shot towards Noire's position like it was being sucked in by a tremendous force. It looked like it was even trying to resist it in order to escape, although whatever was holding it remained steadfast in its grip. Noire even heard the faint shrieks that the Succubus had made throughout their bout, which quickly made her realize what it was: a Soul. To be more accurate, a DEMONIC SOUL from the Succubus.

The Soul soon touched the Sword known as Balmung despite its attempts to break free, and right afterwards it entered the sword entirely, vanishing without a trace. Though, in Noire's eyes, Balmung's power seemed to swell slightly like an inflated balloon, making her deduce that the sword had somehow forced the Succubus's soul out into the open thanks to her being killed by her hand, and then devoured it. Still, she remained caught up in a disbelieving stance, her eyes staring at the weapon in an entranced state. 'Did that... just happen?' she wondered, stunned. Now that she had seen it, something triggered in her mind, and in that moment she recalled the many times in which she had used Balmung against demonic forces back in Leanbox. She mustn't have noticed it at the time, but the souls they had back then must have suffered a similar fate to the Succubus one.

This only made Balmung even more mysterious in her eyes.

'Well, I think that with this, combined with the Amulet, I think I can safely say I've cleared this Dungeon. I'll have to report it to the Guild so I can send in the military to isolate this and rework trade routes through this area. That way, people won't be going near it unless they're adventurers looking for loot, or Spec Ops Agents clearing this place of any Abnormals. I'll have to provide data of the Dungeon's interior too, so they know what they're getting into... that reminds me, who was it which reported this Dungeon to Chian back then? Oh well, I'll look into that later, cause right now I should return to Lastation. I got a LOT of work to do thanks to this...' Noire thought, nearly groaning at everything she would have to accomplish alongside her daily workload. Sometimes, managing a nation proved to be a demanding job. She wondered if it was due to her being a Goddess that all the stress hadn't given her any grey hairs yet.

Neptune would have teased her endlessly if that happened, she thought with irritation as she left the area, heading back towards the Abnormal Dungeon's exit.

* * *

"Master... it appears she has done it. She now possesses the other half of the Amulet."

"Good. We can now finish the final preparations before we make our next move. Keep an eye on her for now, inform me of any developments noteworthy."

"Yes, Master..."

"... Finally, the road to power has yielded me this opportunity. I will not be denied the power I crave, with all these pieces in place, I shall once again attain the power that I am entitled to. It will be MINE!"


	5. Chapter 5 - Balmung Unveiling

**Chapter 5 - Balmung unravelling**

With everything happened, Noire found herself going through a whole whirlwind of tribulations.

Exiting the Abnormal Dungeon had been exactly like what Team RAIL had reported, alongside her previous visits to other Abnormal Dungeons. The surrounding areas would become void of any kind of Monster, normal or otherwise, with a sense of peaceful stability and tranquillity overtaking the surrounding areas. Noire had figured this phenomenon to be just the fact that every piece of life would be stunned to see one of these supposedly lethal areas get taken down a peg, so they stayed clear of tit and would return to their normal routines in time. Something Noire didn't mind since she had seen reports from her Military's scouts confirm this.

Though, whilst she returned home via Transforming (by the Goddess she had missed this ability, she hadn't been without her HDD for like 35 minutes and she already heaved sighs of relief upon entering it), Noire had found herself being attacked by more packs of Abnormals than usual. A lot of them consisted of creatures she had learned their names being 'Vajuras' which were these massive Tiger-like Abnormals with the ability to harvest lightning through these cloth-like Tentacles protruding from their manes to attack their enemies. Though, the Tentacles seemed more like a Cape the more she had fought hem, but nevertheless their agile movements made them particularly annoying to deal with. More than once did Noire find herself thanking Raiden in her mind that he had helped her develop her ZANDATSU to slow her time perception enough so she could avoid their sneak attacks. Heck, their endurance had been enough to resist her VACUUM SLASH attacks as well as its alternative form for a long while each battle. These beasts usually got assisted by these creatures called 'Ogretails', these pack-based, Raptor-like Abnormals with massive tails and ogre-like features hence their name. Minor annoyances, but Noire had managed to deal with them regardless.

Helped her train her skills regardless, so that was something to note.

The moment that Noire had returned to Chian's factory/Café business, she had immediately informed her that the Abnormal Dungeon had been cleared out, showing her proof by showing the Amulet she had gained from the slain Succubus. However, she did NOT tell her of her intentions to investigate it, nor did she regal her of the tale of their fight. That kind of vulgar language Noire did NOT permit in her Nation. May be different in Lowee with their CPU having a bit of a foul mouth, but not here in the land where business came before pleasure. This piece of news, nevertheless, had the result of Chian hugging the life out of her CPU, with the amount of happiness and relief in that her Company wouldn't go bankrupt from lack of trading partners anytime soon, though the blackette nearly found herself falling unconscious due to lack of oxygen. Not to mention, that they had been alone in Chian's office when she had told the Mechanic this allowed her to expose her hidden… girly side, not just the sarcastically sassy mechanic she usually was. Even so, just to be on the cautious side of things, Noire had advised her to inform her trade partners to avoid this area for at least a few weeks, to give the military time to secure the area for future developments, something which the Mechanic had readily agreed to.

After that, she had left the Café (after having some well-earned coffee), and returned back to her Basilicom, getting warmly received by her followers which had put smiles on her face no matter how many times it happened. Thanks to the incident with Avenir's goons populating her home, she had found it a REFRESHING change of pace to finally be acknowledged properly for once. It had felt like… like she had finally come home to the REAL Lastation, not the mess she had found it in when she had come back. Once she HAD returned to the Basilicom however, did Noire immediately start working. She made the calls, she attended the meetings, she heard the voices of those who had came to see her, pretty much doing her regular routine whilst approving for the Military to secure that Abnormal Dungeon.

Thus, that had been how her day ended…

Before she had known it, night had fallen onto Lastation once again, pushing aside the light of day and ushering in the reign of the night. Though, for Lastation citizens their weather didn't allow them much of an opportunity to see the starry night skies. A pity, but the people had been used to such a sight especially those who were either born in Lastatio or had came here and stayed for a prolonged time period. Outside the streets, lights were switched on to illuminate the paths, where watchful eyes belonging to guardsman could be seen as they patrolled. This hadn't always been the case, where guardsmen would have to patrol these streets at night but thanks to the invasion made by Avenir back then, as well as dozens of riots incited over recent political decisions, it had become a necessary procedure to ensure civilian safety.

But, to Noire none of this mattered right now. Thanks to her workload being finished for the day, she decided to head on up to the residential area for the CPU at the top of the Basilicom. It would have been the same for every CPU to have their own residencies within their Basilicoms, since these places had been built to worship and house them should they ever descend down to the mortal plane of existence. A plane which Noire found much more enjoyable then simply staying in Celestia fighting in the Console War, now that she had experienced it herself.

Opening the door to her room, a fatigue, ridden Noire moaned and groaned as she swayed like a zombie towards her bed. The amount of weariness which plagued her being right now felt like she had been hit with over 1000 tranquilizer darts, sapping away any energy she had within her. She'd been drained enough when she'd fought that Succubus, but thanks to this chaotic day Noire found herself with barely anything left. She couldn't even keep herself focused on any work no more, all she could think of would be to embrace the call of sleep. For someone who had a work ethic like hers, this state's effectiveness spoke volumes about how tired she had become.

Fortunately, she'd retained some semblance of awareness as she kicked her door shut behind her, then strode over to her bed. The way her form swayed whilst her eyes remained lidded, her bed became increasingly enticing the more she looked at it, almost as if the bed itself were a seductive Succubus trying to lure her into the dream world. All the while, Noire began taking off her clothes and throwing them aside, leaving her in her undergarments. The blackette right now didn't have much of a care about any kind of organisation or manners, all she wanted was to get to sleep as soon as possible. The closing of her door had been the limit for her at this moment.

"Uuuuu… Sleepy… too tired… please… no more, work…"

Those words escaped from Noire's lips like they were the mantra in a ritual, as the multi-century year old Goddess lost all remaining strength in her body and as a result, flopped onto her bed like a dead fish. The moment that she did this, she was met with the soft, warm and comfortable sensation of the bedsheets with the quilt cover having been already arranged to be pulled over in the morning. 'Hmmm… so waaaaaaaaarm…. So coooosyyyy…' Were her last thoughts as her lidded eyes finally closed completely shut, and she allowed the domain of sleep to take away her consciousness.

…

…

…

…

…

…

"… Eh?"

Something soon became wrong, Noire felt it deep in her bones. It hadn't even been 5 minutes yet since she fell asleep, she figured, and already something had happened. Her gut trembled in an uncomfortable manner, whilst her heart thrummed uncertainly within her ribcage. Not to mention that she felt like she had been spun around dozens of times over yet still remained in the brink of vomiting. Needless to say, Noire felt utterly awful inside, like a wretched old hag about to expire the remains of her life force.

If things were different though, then Noire would have been ranting and raging as she slowly opened her eyes. The reason for this, was that even though she didn't exactly feel 100% right now (note the sarcasm), Noire DID notice some more… positive changes in her current condition. Nobody knew her body better than her, after all. First of all, no longer could she feel the fatigue which had plagued her body, instead energy coursed through her as if she had a full night's sleep and woke up brimming with activity. Secondly, hr awareness had returned to its normal state, with crystal clear clarity flowing gently through her senses.

Not only these things, but there wasn't any danger around her, nor could she feel anything at all resembling a bed beneath her. In fact, the surface she felt herself lying on felt hard as dirt. Gently caressing this surface with her hands led her to believe that she really WAS lying on dirt, so… was she somewhere outside? Noire didn't know, since the outside of her Basilicom was all city land, not this natural dirt she felt with her hands. It didn't seem likely that she was in a park or anything like that as Lastation had few of those, and the closest one still remained far away from the Basilicom. When her eyes completely opened, her vision became blurry at first, but that soon passed. It cleared up like a mirage vanishing out of existence, allowing her to see where she was…

Which pretty much confirmed to her that she was NOT in her Basilicom anymore.

"H-HUH?!" Noire shrieked, shooting up to her feet when she saw her surroundings, which turned out to be a vast, expansive grassy plain. Her head frantically turned left, right and left again as her eyes shined with panic at the unfamiliar territory she had found herself in. After a few seconds, Noire couldn't hold in her emotions anymore, not even her training to keep silent during important meetings or her leadership mentality could help her stay calm any longer. "Wha-wha-what the HELL?!"

All around her, she could see nothing but greenery, no hills, no silhouettes nothing but this plain. Not much to look at, not much at all. Seeing this plain made her try to recall if there had been any kinds of these plains in Lastation, but to her dismay Noire found that she couldn't recall that many, especially ones close to the main city since they had been taken over by either Monsters, or various businesses who use the local areas as a means for their own ambitions. Avenir being a prime example. Worse still though, was that Noire couldn't even see any geography which could indicate where she was in Lastation, so was she even in Lastation at all?!

Not only that, but when Noire looked up above, her eyes couldn't make out any kind of sun, as the skies remained completely covered in these colossally large, white fluffy-looking clouds. Although, Noire knew for a FACT that louds were simply big masses of water not fluff like common people assumed them to be. Even so though, the blackette could see thin rays of light shining down through those clouds, like the heavens themselves were trying to break through the veil and establish themselves in this mortal plane of existence.

Beneath Noire's feet (she'd already noticed that she was back to wearing her regular outfit right now) the ground beneath her feet swayed in the direction of a gentle, practically near invisible, breeze. The atmosphere, because of this, felt quite… relaxing actually, comforting even which somehow made Noire spend a couple moments just closing her eyes and letting the atmosphere caress her form. Her hair and bangs fluttered in the direction of the gentle, almost motherly winds. 'Sooooo… goooooood….' She moaned to herself in her mind, experiencing utmost bliss and tranquillity.

How long…?

How long had it been since she had felt so at peace like this? Noire honestly couldn't recall the last time she had felt this way. This place… it gave her the feeling of complete freedom, freedom from responsibility, freedom of expression, pretty much the freedom of everything which had ever chained her down. This feeling… she didn't think she could have ever experienced it, as a leader Noire had consigned herself to a life of always thinking about the future of her people, always putting their needs before her own. It would have been her atonement for the Console War, and even during that pointless battle she had never felt so free as she did right now.

This feeling…

It felt simply AMAZING!

No, wait… perhaps there truly wasn't a word which could describe the level of happiness, joy and fulfilment she felt right now.

After basking in this feeling for a while, Noire finally managed to regain her composure, taking in a few deep breaths before exhaling. Her mind cleared up, and her eyes, which had been closed this entire time, opened up into a narrowed gaze. 'Whew, now that that stuff's out of my system, time to see where the hell I am…' she thought to herself while starting her trek forwards, looking around constantly for any sign of life. If not that, then at least something which could indicate a chance to get some information. This place indeed bewildered her with its beauty, but there were much more important questions to ask about this place, like what it was, where it was, and how she could get back to the Basilicom to get the rest she would need for the following day. Noire didn't want to be away from Lastation for too long, and even if she did (like when she left for Leanbox), she would rather make sufficient preparations for the Nation to remain self-sufficient whilst she would be away.

She walked about for what felt like hours, and the more she did so the more concerned Noire grew. The beauty of this land had gradually lost its ability to enrapture her the more worried she became for her situation. 'This is ridiculous…!' she ranted mentally, finally stopping to take a break, although it didn't take her long to realize that no matter how much she walked she never lost any of her stamina. Almost like she could keep walking forever, as not even her feet ached from the constant walking. 'This place must be HUGE, cause no matter how long I walk I can't seem to find anything! All I see are just this plain and nothing else! Am I even the only one here?!'

"Well, I can confirm that by at least doing this, though I hope nobody's around to call me an idiot for not noticing them… UM, HELLO?! IS THERE ANYONE OUT THERE?!"

For a moment, Noire remained there, silent as she looked around for anything which could have answered her, but nothing came. This result caused Noire to grit her teeth so tight that she would have crushed them, as well as almost unleash her HDD form and smash everything around her in frustration. Did this mean that she was alone here, in this place? Unable to get back to her Nation? No, that couldn't be! No way would she freaking accept that! She had to get back to her Nation, she had to regain its trust in her, she had to prove that she could be a competent leader to them! She had to make sure Avenir wouldn't pull anything that would put them in the position of power they had before, making all her followers' lives miserable!

Just then however…

"Ah, finally, we can meet…"

"Eh?!"

Someone answered her?! Noire gasped in surprise when she heard a deep, masculine voice come from nearby. Another moment passed and a surge of relief exploded within her chest, knowing that she wasn't alone in this place. 'Someone's here! Yes! This is great maybe NOW I can FINALLY get some information!' she thought in excitement, her earlier worries vanishing faster than a certain bird which was named after its habit of running on roads with a wolf trying to catch and eat it. Twirling around to face the voice after that relief passed, Noire came face to face with the speaker. "Whew, finally someone answers! You have absolutely NO idea how glad I am to finally hear someone else other than myself! I thought I was alone in… this place…!"

Just then, she trailed off when she finally took in the speaker's appearance. Her eyes widened in shock, her jaw dropping, and disbelief exploded within her crimson orbs. Heck, if someone had asked her what she would think if she were told this would happen, she'd call them lunatics!

The reason? Simple!

Standing before her right now… was what could only be described as a man resembling a masculine version of herself! whenever she activated Balmung's FAFNIR Armour in HDD form!

Noire backpedalled when she took in this man's appearance, her mind completely blown away. What the hell, how in Celestia's name could this be considered a thing?! That was the thought which dominated the blackette's mind right now as she beheld this man, who in stark contrast to her looked to be quite calm right now. She could even clearly make out the sword that she had named just now strapped to the man's back, Balmung. Now that she looked at it from an outsider's perspective, not something she would have expected to see today, Noire couldn't help but feel like this image… fit, somehow. Like Balmung truly felt right when this form was wielding it.

'No-no-no, Noire! Stupid girl, this isn't the time to be thinking about that kind of stuff right now!' The CPU shrieked mentally, slapping her cheeks several time with her eyes crunched shut to get her rationality back. Once she did it a few times and returned to a… semi stable state of mind, Noire opened her eyes and looked towards the man with an… intense gaze in her eyes. "You are…?" she questioned him, expecting him to give his name.

"What are you saying? You already of me… or rather, you of me through the sword I once wielded…"

The man instead, stated the previous sentence with his arms crossed in front of his chest. Something which Noire could not resist the urge to gaze down and take it in, her features flushing slightly. Those abs… could she grind cheese on them? Quickly shaking her head to focus back on the task at hand and forcefully shoving those thoughts into the depths of her consciousness, Noire pondered on what he had said. 'I already… know? What is he talking about? I know this guy thanks to Balmung…? What does he mean by that? I remember receiving Balmung from the Spec Ops section of the Guild… back when…'

Thinking back to when she'd gained Balmung as a weapon, Noire thought back to that eventful day. It had been a day unlike any other, especially since she had a lot of work to do that day. Way more than normal due to an incident which had happened. It had mostly revolved around a terrorist group with similar clout to Avenir which that Company had been supporting through the shadows, only to ditch them at the last second to save their own hides politically. Noire had already known by the end of the incident that they were involved, but with a lack of evidence pointing to them she couldn't have punished that damned Company. It had also been how she had come to know her Mentor, Raiden, as she and him had worked together to uncover a plot to seize power from the Basilicom by throwing the Nation into civil war by one of the 'higher up' representatives in her own Bacilicom. Of course, his plan had failed, which caused him to die by Raiden's blade as they and her had entered into a life or death fight… though her inclusion in the incident had to be concealed so her image as a leader didn't suffer.

Not something she particularly liked, but she had no other option at the time, plus she didn't even have much time to object either.

But anyways, on that day, Noire had been working her butt off to get things in her nation sorted, paperwork and meetings having sucked up much of her energy. That is, until a sudden power outage had covered the entire Capital of SONY out of nowhere. It had completely jolted her back to the land of the awake when the Caffeine in her Coffee had failed. She remembered how shocked and confused she had been back then, quickly rushing out her room to find someone to get the answers she needed as to what the heck had happened. It had ended up with Noire visiting the Spec Ops Branch of her Nation's Guild Building, where according to several sources a weapon had been transported there from a recent excavation.

Noire hadn't thought they were linked at first, but when she had gotten information out of some of the staff there, it had been revealed that whilst they had been conducting research into the Weapon's nature and origins, something had gone wrong and it had released a surge of mystical electric energy, which had resulted in the entire city's power grid being disabled. When Noire had demanded to see this weapon herself (later learning that it could be hours before the power grid could be restored whilst ordering some of her Basilicom Staff to inform the populace that everything was alright), they had taken her to one of their underground research labs where they'd been storing it… and that had been the first time Noire had ever seen it:

Balmung.

The sword simply floated in the middle of an observation room, contained within a sphere of pure electrical energy which had sparks dancing all around it. Almost like a well-rehearsed performance which could spellbind anyone who gazed at it, even Noire herself. Apparently, the sword had been discovered this way by the scouts within a desolate ruin, a ruin of which the age could not have been determined due to how wrecked it looked. They had apparently been trying to break through this energy field, a scientist had explained, when something triggered a violent reaction which caused the field to release what could only have been described as an EMP pulse, disabling any piece of technology in the entire city. Hell, to Noire's horror it had been recorded that this pulse had actually been a weaker version of what could have been, as If the EMP Pulse had been allowed to erupt as intended, then the entire LANDMASS would have been impacted.

Spec Ops Programming giving people competency to act FTW!

Even so, Noire KNEW she had to act fast at the time, otherwise things could spiral even more out of control. She may not have known what the situation outside had been like, but she had a fairly good idea of what it COULD turn into if she hadn't acted as fast as she had. Chaotic riots, killings, lawlessness and goddess only knows what else. Therefore, she had made to order that this blade be removed from the City and placed within any kind of secure facility isolated from prying eyes. A blade like this may be quite dangerous to the people, but considering their situation regarding the Abnormals (and the ominous future she felt was approaching them), she had decided against destroying such a powerful weapon.

But, before she could have made that order… she had been hit with a sensation. A tug which pulled at her gut, her heart and very soul. It was like a child, desperately trying to call out to its parent and that parent had been her. It reminded Noire of when some children during the zombie invasion had been calling out to their mothers or fathers to help them… but only a few ever actually got their parents back. That feeling had caused her to shut her mouth before she could have given the order, then shift her gaze towards the sword which she had felt the tug from. Against the advice from her staff, Noire had then proceeded inside the observation room because of this… and when she had approached the blade… well, she didn't see what had happened as she blacked out at that moment, but according to reports apparently the field around the blade erupted once more into an explosion of electricity, knocking Noire out before the blade itself latched onto her back, unable to be removed by anyone save for her. Something she'd done a couple weeks later when she woke.

Yet, during that time, Noire swore to herself that she had a dream, a dream where she had seen a masculine face looking down at her, nodding in approval and mouthing the words 'finally, we meet'. Just like now, actually…

Wait a minute…

"Hold on… are you… are you THAT guy I saw in my dream?!" Noire exclaimed as a moment of realization formed on her features. She even went as far as to point at the man accusingly, forgetting her manners in this moment of shock as well. At first, she had been unable to remember the dream very clearly, but as she had trained more and more with Balmung, she had gotten a better memory of it, like the memory itself would only be available to her once she had reached a stable mental fortitude. Not to mention in recent times she could clearly make out the dream person's features, which when compared to this person before her… yep, definitely a match!

Yup, there was no denying it, the more she looked at him the more Noire felt like she had hit the jackpot.

"Hmph. Thankfully you are able to recal it. Now for the second part… can you hear this: Siegfried…"

That was when the man spoke again, and at first he seemed to be quite pleased. Noire didn't get it though, for some reason she couldn't help but think that this guy seemed to be naturally fit to be a ruler, he just emitted the aura off a divine emperor destined to rule over the masses. Similar to what the original Nobles of Leanbox had once been like according to the history books and what Vert had once told her when they had a rare moment of time to talk civilly. Not as Goddesses and leaders, but two adults wishing to know more about one another. Then, came the second part of the sentence, and foor some reason…

"You said that name like its something important… Siegfried… Anyways, of course I can hear it, I'm not deaf you know!"

The blackette, in true tsundere fashion, huffed and turned her head to the side with a pouty expression on her face. Though, internally would be classed as a different story, as inside her mind it would not be too wrong to say that it resembled a raging hurricane, one of chaos and disorder. Noire couldn't help but get the impression that name held much more weight to it than she could have ever realized at this moment. That had been the feeling she perceived from the name. 'Siegfried… that name's made from the elements sig, which means "victory" and frithu, which means "protection" or "Peace"… the ideal name for a king or an Emperor.' Noire thought in her head, her mind gushing with different questions bordering around that name. Why did he say it like it would be important to her? Why did she think that was the case? And, now that she thought about it, why did she get the feeling that name had a HUGE connection to her?

However, it looked like that her answer had been the right one, especially when the man's blank expression morphed into a slightly amused one. If not a little relieved too, if she had managed to get a closer look at him. "So, you can hear me and say my name… that's great, it seems like the bond has finally solidified enough… I had hoped this would be the case when I realized I was able to bring you here." He remarked, nodding his head in satisfaction, which resulted in him missing the shocked look Noire sported right now, one which came from his admission of bringing her here.

"Y-You brought me here?! Then, can you bring me out?! If so, do so I must get back to work, I've still got Lastation to run, and-!"

"Not yet. I'll bring your consciousness out from this Dream World, but only after we have some talking done. After all, there is much that we need to discuss."

Just as Noire demanded that this man named Siegfried bring her back to the real world since he had been the one to bring her here, Siegfried immediately shot her down. The look in his eyes shone with a stone-cold serious glow, and his entire body radiated an aura of absolute submission. It had been enough to shut Noire up as well as make her reign in her temper. 'You idiot, Noire! You can't lose it here, this guy's not looking like he's joking and seems to be the only person here other than me! If he doesn't bring me out, then I could stay here forever! He's holding all the cards right now! Wait, did he say that we needed to talk? What could there be that we would need to talk about, I hardly even know this man!'

Right when her fears over what could happen in the near future surfaced, they immediately got shut down by the man's words as well. Something which Siegfried apparently seemed to noticed too, considering the knowing look in his eyes. "I see that you noticed. Very well, follow me. I will take us to somewhere where we can talk more civilly. A plain like this is not the optimal place for leaders to talk after all." He said, before turning on his armoured heels and heading off in a seemingly random direction.

* * *

Seeing as how he had begun leaving, and that he had all the cards in their situation right now, Noire huffed as she followed suit, trying to maintain her leader-like demeanour and failing epically. The leadership aura that this man emitted far surpassed hers, like in terms of ruling this guy surpassed her. It… well, it stung at her pride as a leader, a little, realizing this fact. Heck, she could have been even more obnoxious and snotty in her previous words, had the noble-like aura around this man not compelled her to keep her calm. It made her realize something, that Siegfried had used the plural version of 'leader' which could only mean…

'This guy… is he a Leader as well?'

Noire didn't know how much time had passed during their trip, time itself as a concept seemed to become a blur the longer she followed this mysterious, unknown man called Siegfried. Walking behind him also gave her the feeling of being a simple foot soldier, a commoner in a massive army intending to go to war, and this man would have been the general she would have followed. This feeling… it served to do several things: it caused her to become increasingly more curious about this man, his origins and the reason why he was here, in this 'dreamworld' as he had called it. Not to mention the connection this place had to herself. Then, there was the small dark feeling slowly accumulating within her gut, but she tried to ignore that for the time being.

However, she didn't have to wallow in these feelings for too long, as they had seemingly finally arrived at their destination: what looked to be some sort of Castle. Noire looked at it, and quickly found similarities to the older style Leanbox buildings with this Castle's design. 'This place… It actually makes me think of a stronghold fortress, mixed with the royal castle image…' Noire thought as she looked this place over.

Back in Leanbox, Noire had seen quite a few noble houses, especially since many of them whom had approached her (with a LOT of lust in their gazes, by the way) had shown off their establishments to her to try and flatter her. These houses had quite the few common qualities: their overly grand splendour which seemed more on the borderlines of vain, their well-maintained gardens which they obviously had no hand in nor did they seem too caring about that fact, and their overly exaggerated eloquent natures. Those strongholds seemed to be perfect matches for those who would rather let others do the dirty work for them whilst they just say in comfy chairs and ate good food.

Pretty much the luxurious life in a nutshell.

This Fortress? This place had about half of that, but it wasn't NEARLY as grandiose as them nor did it throw that kind of beauty and wealth around. No, this place looked to be more of a mix, a mix between a noble's household and a damned impenetrable fortress. A structure which lay on the more practical side of things than the grander designs she had seen, making her realize just the stark difference between this man and the many Nobles she had met at the Gala.

"I welcome you, Lady Black Heart, over to my own personal Fortress. Where I'm from, it had been both my home, in addition to the place I conducted my formal and my militaristic meetings."

"You… know my CPU Name? Then, I assume that means you know my true identity…"

"Of course, I know a LOT about you, but let's save that for when we're in a comfortable setting, shall we?"

Noire remained silent, contemplating what this man had said whilst they continued walking. The more she learned about this guy, the more mysterious he seemed to get… which only made her want to know more. At least, enough to assure herself that he didn't have any ill intentions either to herself or Lastation. Her arms, crossed over her chest, gripped their biceps in a surge of nervousness and anxiety, before she forced herself to calm down as she strode after the larger man before her, determination shining within her eyes to get the answers she needed to obtain for her piece of mind.

'I can only hope things won't go downhill, like they seem to do a lot in my Meetings with other politicians…'

So caught up in her own internal struggles while masking it behind a stone-like mask of indifference, Noire ended up missing the glance of the Man before her, his eyes carrying a mysterious glint to them before he resumed gazing forwards.

* * *

Entering the Fortress through the main door, which looked like one of those doors which served as bridges over large moats, Noire and Siegfried made their way through the Fortress with Noire noting down things that she could see were similar to Vert's Basilicom. The reason she'd begun attributing it to that place, had simply been due to the greater similarities in atmosphere between the two buildings, as well as the fact that both buildings served on a more practical sense. She had lost count of how many corridors they had walked through, as well as the many suits of armour in addition to the large windows which lined themselves along the corridors within the walls.

Eventually though, they entered a room which looked a LOT like the one she had talked with Vert in before Neptune showed up during the Gala. Though, if she were to judge it based off splendour and impact… well, sorry Vert but this one outshined hers by FAR. Noire could hardly even BEGIN to stop herself from looking around and taking in the splendid and well-maintained decorations. Stuff which whilst splendid to look at, didn't feel very over-the-top like a lot of current generation nobles. Not to mention that instead of two seats opposite a table, there were 4 pairs of 4 seats, each sitting around a squarish one. Behind it as one entered the room, one could see a Desk and chair which Noire assumed was where this man known as Siegfried worked on his paperwork.

Not sure if that was wise, considering the importance of those documents, but hey…

"Please, have a seat." Siegfried pleasantly urged her, to which Noire nodded and took her seat on the left sofa, what looked like a cup of tea manifesting by itself over her lap. Just before she could exclaim anything, Siegfried beat her to it by explaining. "Don't worry, thanks to this being a dream world, you can imagine pretty much anything in here and it'll appear. This IS within your head, after all." He explained, before taking a seat opposite her. He raised one leg and placed it horizontally over his thigh, a matching cup of coffee in his hands.

After a short moment, Noire just HAD to comment on her thoughts pertaining to this Castle. "This place… its magnificent, but I'm getting a mix of nobility and military from it. Is that…?"

A nod from Siegfried answered her unasked question. "Indeed. It was my philosophy that both Nobles and Soldiers were the same people, thus they needed to be around one another constantly to get a feel for each other's abilities, in order to not get any ideas of looking down on one another. For the most part, it had worked, although a big contribution came from the era I'm from… but let's leave that till later, and get own to business, shall we?"

'Straight to the point, huh…' Noire thought, a little taken aback by this situation. Though, she recovered just as quickly as she placed her tea on the table and then placed her hands together on her lap. Still, she couldn't say she disliked that kind of thought process, she herself tended to get straight to the heart of issues during business meetings without a care for pointless chitchat. "Okay then…" she began, taking a breath to steady her nerves. Perhaps it was due to this natural leadership this man radiated, but the blackette couldn't avoid comparing herself to him and gradually feeling worse and worse each second that passed. Eventually, she got her questions together in her mind, and so began the questioning between these two. "Well, for starters, what is this place? You said it was a 'dream world' or something and that you brought me here…" she began, trailing off at the end.

"Yes, that is indeed true, this is indeed a world created within your mind. I seem to recall you travelling with someone who has a similar world inside of him, only his is more powerful." Siegfried replied, his face shifting into a deadly serious tone, similar to a stern lecturer who didn't tolerate any kind of silliness from his students. "In Addition, I indeed brought you here since the bond between you and my sword has finally passed its foundation stage, which allows me to communicate to you. The fact that you can hear me say my name is proof of this, as otherwise you wouldn't have been able to hear it. All you would have heard would have been static, in addition your mind being as tired as it had been merely made it easier for me to act."

Okay, so that was now confirmed and finally fully explained. She had a feeling on who it was that this man hinted at, especially when a certain red-haired Spec Ops Agent came to mind. The fact that he had something like this didn't really surprise her though since he WAS the type of person who didn't trust others easily. The revelation of his Ghoul Side came to mind as proof of this claim, yet even so Noire mentally took note as she pressed onwards. "Then, in that case who are you, and why are you connected to Balmung?" Noire queried, trying to keep her tone level and professional. The aura this guy emitted practically demanded it of her, and she had no way of resisting it.

"Ah yes, that. I am indeed a part of Balmung. I have been here since the start of your journey with my Noble Phantasm, but it is only now that you hear my voice, due to being deeply connected to my sword. My name is Siegfried, and I am its original wielder as well as a King from a distant past. My soul, once I passed on in my time, was put inside my sword as a means of making sure its power would move to someone worthy of its might. That someone is yourself, but do NOT be too arrogant with this information. Much like that blonde woman with that spear, you have been GROSSLY underestimating this sword's power, I would have cried if things were different. Balmung is NOT a simple weapon, Mrs Black Heart, its power is far greater than you can ever imagine. You right now, are not even using 40% of its power, at most maybe about 20%."

Now THIS caused Noire to stammer after nearly choking on some of her tea. 20%?! Freaking 20%?! That's how much power she was using whenever that blade got drawn from its sheathe?! What the hell, how could that be, she remembered seeing this sword decimate armies with its TWILIGHT WAVE, she had seen it herself whenever she visited Abnormal Dungeons or when huge packs of them tried to raid her Nation's villages. And this guy's saying she WASN'T using its full power?!

Her expression told Siegfried everything he needed to know about her reaction. "Yes, Balmung at 40% of its power, can turn the wielder's surroundings into a crater, one which is several hundred meters wide in all directions. At 30%, it can go even further, but by the time you reach 40%, perhaps an entire continent can be sliced in half. But, as you are you will NOT be able to get even close to that level. Heck, reaching beyond 40% is only a pipedream for the current you." Siegfried stated, his words gradually getting blunter and blunter.

Eventually, Noire couldn't take much more of the verbal assault thrown her way. "Hey, I've been trying you know!" she retorted, trying to keep her tone level but failing to hide the mad twitching of her brow. "Its not like I've had anyone to help me with this Sword that you call a 'Noble Phantasm' by the way. I've had to train largely on my own!" Noire hotly argued... before her eyes widened when she realized something, and she had to have a meeting between her hand and her face. "Ugh, I'm an idiot... you really WERE trying to help me back then, weren't you...?" she questioned, though a lot more subdued in comparison to before. She just couldn't argue with him, not when she realized something important that she hadn't paid attention to until now.

Seeing that she had realized it, Siegfried gave a nod as well. "Indeed, it was my voice which was guiding you all this time. You first heard me when you fought that irksome person on that mountain, but to be frank I have been trying to communicate with you earlier. Unfortunately, you were still under the assumption that Balmung was just a 'weapon', even if you had suspicions otherwise, which made your heart refuse to hear my voice. That Ashbringer, it served a purpose after all, since the moment you picked it up, it allowed the process to speed up by leaps and bounds, doing this by convincing you to 'open your heart' to both it as well as Balmung. Now, before we continue, I believe we must discuss what a Noble Phantasm is. Originally this knowledge had been commonplace, as were the knowledge of their wielder, however upon examining your soul it seems that it has long faded into history. Very well, we shall start at the beginning."

Yeah, Noire agreed with him there, since that name had been thrown about a couple times before, though she had no clue as to what it meant. As such, Siegfried began to explain. "Noble Phantasms are, at their base, powerful armaments made using the imagination of humans as their core, and weapons or abilities owned by beings known as Heroic Spirits, spirits of heroes who achieved great deeds in life, resulting in them having become objects of worship after their deaths. Their Noble Phantasms are the embodiment of the ultimate mysteries of a hero that symbolizes one's existence through historical facts and anecdotes. They can be physical weapons, such as swords, lances, and bows, or support items, such as rings and crowns. They can also be abstract concepts, like unique abilities, unique means of attacks, curses, and changes to the environment and its physical properties."

Taking a breather, Siegfried continued by going on about Heroic Spirits themselves. "Throughout Gamindustri's history, countless heroes have been born and countless more have perished. Those who have done great deeds, as per mentioned, they turn into Heroic Spirits, becoming spiritual in both body and mind after death due to the worship they have accumulated with their accomplishments. It is quite similar to how the CPUs are also objects of worship for the masses, except Heroic Spirits become such when a tremendous amount of Share Energy, AKS Faith, is infused into them. This 'ascension' as it were, affords them tremendous power, power in which even these so-called 'Demon Princes' would be wary of. These Spirits wander the earth as pure energy, able to materialize and dematerialize at will until something happens and they are defeated. However, their extreme connection to their Noble Phantasms has resulted in an ability to seal themselves inside of them, bonding with their weapons to literally 'become one' with them instead of embracing death. In this state, a Heroic Spirit cannot exist in any physical form, unless they find a proper wielder worthy of wielding them."

"Then, how will they be judged?" Noire questioned, apologetically as she sensed this guy didn't like being interrupted.

However, he didn't say anything regarding this fear and simply continued. "A Heroic Spirit is able to judge them by connecting with the candidate's soul. looking through their lifetime and judging them accordingly. Should they rove themselves unworthy, then the powers the Noble Phantasm has will be sealed away, and it will just be a normal, albeit slightly above average weapon which would prove inferior to proper Noble Phantasms. Should the wielder prove WORTHY however, they will be forever bound to the Noble Phantasm itself, including the Heroic Spirit which will take residence inside their very Soul, the energy they are made from becoming a powerful barrier which will shield them from many powerful Soul-related attacks. Not only that, but Heroic Spirits will infuse their energies into their wielders very bodies over time, gradually improving them as they train with their new weapons in order to fight as if these wielders were actual Heroic Spirits themselves. For your information, the man you know as Okada Izou was also a Heroic Spirit, only revived from death by a foul magic which severely limited his abilities. Should he have been able to fight at full power, then NONE of your friends or yourself would have lived."

THAT caused her to grit her teeth, the image of that slimy, perverted, arrogant jerk to enter her mind. Hearing that guy had been a so-called 'Heroic Spirit' did not sit well with her, as while she figured that only truly remarkable people could become Heroic Spirits in their lifetime, then in his era his exploits must have been great enough for that to happen. Still, that didn't mean she had to like it, something Siegfried could sense through their connection. Heck, knowing that she could easily understand why that guy had been so powerful, with the level of power these spirits possessed it wouldn't be hard to understand just how difficult it would be to fight them. 'Wait, if these Heroic Spirits are so powerful, then why didn't the Goddesses know of them? Did we REALLY lose so much knowledge about our world when we engaged in that POINTLESS Console War?!' she shrieked in her mind.

It well and truly baffled her, why she had never heard of these beings before yet the common man seemed to be somewhat aware of them, if not completely since for example, Stefan had regaled them the tale of Okada Izou and his significance in Leanbox History. If humans subconsciously worshipped these people like they were CPUs, then it was no wonder that they existed. They'd exist in the hearts of the people, but their minds wouldn't know this, so it would make sense to assume that humanity only believed in them, but didn't know they were real. It was a weird thing to think about, if she were honest, plus a little difficult to wrap her head around so she'd ponder it later.

"Ah yes, the Console War, one of the biggest and gravest mistakes you have ever made." Siegfried stated, his tone becoming harsh as his eyes narrowed into slits. An aura of anger swerved around him like it was a barrier, causing Noire to recoil in fright. Horror and dread filled her chest as she felt like she had been held at sword point from the killing intent Siegfried radiated. "In all honesty, I DESPISE that war. I despise it because I cannot BELIEVE that a leader would be so STUPID and SELFISH to fight something which would only cause needless death for their people. For centuries at that! It was a disgusting, pointless and pathetic war, so when I discovered your connection to it I was SORELY tempted to not let you use my power at all. Just to seal it all up and let you have only an above average weapon instead. It would have been all you had deserved for making such a crucial mistake, both as a Divinity-based being as well as a Leader."

The more she heard come out of his mouth, the more depressed, ashamed and angry that Noire became inside. Most of all because those words he'd uttered just now, had reflected EXACTLY what she felt deep inside about her choices. She herself, despised the notion of the Console War, having reflected over it countless times to see if there ad been ANY purpose to it... and finding nothing for her troubles. There had been no proof that the other CPUs would have been intending to invade each other's nations, there had simply been the animosity between them. At this point, Noire couldn't even recall how or when the first shot got fired which triggered it, which worried her immensely but it wasn't like it mattered at this point. The basic line was, that she had failed as a leader, just as Siegfried had said. She'd even wrestled with the idea of her no longer having the right to be even called a Leader for all the sins she had committed.

Yet, no matter what however...

"You're... I loathe to admit this with every fibre of my being, but you're right. I've done a LOT of stuff which a Leader shouldn't do, the Console War is just one of those things. Yet, the worst thing I did was leave my people to fend for themselves, which opened the door to countless atrocities, ones I could have prevented if things had been different..." Noire reluctantly admitted. Her body trembled as her teeth gnashed themselves together so much that they resembled whetstones grinding against one another. Memories of the past filled her mind, causing her to clench her fists over her lap with all sorts of feelings swelling up inside her. Inside of her, she could feel herself SCREAMING and howling in anguish, humiliation and her inner Goddess screech at her, telling her to stop saying what she was. Yet, Noire didn't stop, cause right now she found herself being cowed by the aura of leadership, dignity and sheer DOMINANCE Siegfried possessed right now...

Even so though, she couldn't just keep this lying down, her heart told her as she looked back up at the older man before her, whose own eyes narrowed even sharper at her response. Her eyes had an angry, yet steely determination within them, sparking like the Lightning that she is starting to affiliate herself towards. Her lips were set in a firm line whilst she stared right into those angry eyes, abandoning the fears she held inside for the last of her response. "Yet, I'm still determined to make sure the Nation knows how apologetic I am! I'm trying to be a better leader for them, my people need me to be so! I'm learning from my past mistakes so that they DON'T happen again! That's my belief, and that will NEVER change! No matter what, the people of Lastation, I will protect them to the best of my ability! Anything that's too much for me to handle...!" at that moment, she paused, hesitating for a brief second as a form of her pride rebelling against her, before she crushed it and continued on. She couldn't let pride get in the way of protecting her people, not when things were changing between her and the other CPUs. "Then I'll have my comrades help! No matter what though, I'll DEFINITELY be better than I was before! You can count on that!"

At the end of her speech, Noire sat back down, having stood up during the middle of it and begun breathing heavily. That speech, she had just let it out within one entire moment without taking the time to even BREATHE. Yet, it came from deep within her all the same, representing all her fears, insecurities as well as her domineering resolve, resolve which would NOT lose out to that of Siegfried himself. Not to mention whilst she regained her breathing rhythm, Noire levelled a ferocious stare towards the man before her, challenging him with her gaze alone. She wouldn't back down from this, not on her lifetime. This was something she had to do to prove to both Siegfried, and herself, that she could INDEED be a competent leader.

Staring into her eyes, Siegfried himself kept their gaze level. It seemed to him, like at first she had withered under his gaze completely, and if that had been the case then things for her would have stopped where they were. He wouldn't have let her continue wielding Balmung any longer in this lifetime, that would have been a fact. Someone who failed as a Leader, did not have the right to wield the power of Balmung in his ideology. However, as he stared into her eyes and saw her spark -reignite, he searched through them to see if any of that weakness still remained. Instead, all he saw was an unending resolve, a resolve to do what she could for the sake of her people. To accept help when necessary, though that one would need some more work, but in the end her heart remained in the right place. Siegfried came to this conclusion in his mind, and as a result he mentally sighed.

'Well, while she may not be completely there yet, she does indeed have the potential and the drive to be a good leader. Looking through her Soul told me that something happened and as a result, she didn't have anyone to guide her on what a proper leader should be like. Since her wish is to become a better leader for her people, to atone for the mistakes she has made in the past, then I shall help grant that wish. Even in my current condition, this has not changed anything about myself, not one bit. If she has a wish, I will do all in my power to grant it, just like I did for my own people when I was alive.'

"That there though, is exactly why I decided against those actions." Siegfried stated, catching Noire's attention as he held up an index finger. When he did so, he heard an 'eh?' come from her lips, prompting him to elaborate. "Not going to sugar-coat it, you failed as a Leader in the past, but the fact that you have been trying to change and redeem yourself in your own eyes as well as that of your subjects, it shows you indeed have the potential. As such, I chose to let you become the second Wielder of Balmung, the second coming of Siegfried himself." he explained, before standing up and crossing his arms. He looked down at her, and continued but with a grave, stern voice not unlike that of a drill instructor. "Make no mistake, the current you is an embarrassment to my Noble Phantasm. That is why I will train you in its arts, myself. I do this for two reasons: One, I acknowledge your wish to be better, to atone for your past sins. I too have desired to be the best leader possible, which lead me to fulfilling their wishes to the very end. I do not regret this, and neither will you. Two: I will not allow anyone unworthy to wield this sword of which I spent my entire life with, doing any less will smear its good name."

'W-Wait, did he say he was going to train me?! And, what is with these abrupt change in personalities?!' Noire mentally shrieked, not having expected this in her opinion. To her, he seemed as though he had only come here to explain and ridicule her for her past mistakes, and now he's saying he's going to train her? Although, Noire could sort of understand his motives with the Sword, spending one's life on the battlefield would definitely result in an intimacy with the wielded weapon. An attachment to it would only be natural to have been forged. Not to mention his ideals on being a ruler of a Nation... for some reason, his believes seemed to resonate with her. In her case, she only tried to do everything she could to make sure her Nation ran smoothly, which wasn't too different from this guy according to what he had been saying. "U-Um, okay sir... But, may I ask about this 40% business? Is that my limit or something?"

Siegfried took a moment to think, wondering if he should say it all, but there had been enough information dumped onto this maiden's mind right now, she would need time to process it. As such, he only spoke this. "40% is merely the level of power Balmung will let you have, until you reach what is called a Bottleneck, a special seal I placed on my sword in which you will need a LARGE amount of energy to break through to the 80% mark, and finally the 100% one. Make no mistake, this will be a long journey but it will indeed be a great benefit to your abilities." He explained, and Noire could agree on that statement. She had seen a Noble Phantasm's power for herself, so she knew they were no weaklings.

Still, she still had some questions for him that she liked to have answers to, like what his story was like or how he died as insensitive that they may be. Heck, she even entertained the idea of asking him for leadership advice, since she never got that much help when learning about ruling when she was in her infantile stages... a time which seemed so far away to the current her. It was at this moment, that Noire felt herself slowly falling into slumber, which Siegfried quickly explained that she was waking up in the real world. His features twisting into looks of approval became the last thing she saw before blacking out.

* * *

**Chapter end!**

**Alright, chapter 5 is done!**

**Some interesting things have happened here, for one we've gotten some deeper insight into Noire's character, though looking into her own insecurities and fears about being Lastation's Goddess. Like it was written though, it was merely a test made by Siegfried to see how she would respond to being provoked in such a manner. One could say he was trying to learn more about Noire without having to look through her soul, testing the bond she had with Balmung and by extension himself. Now that she's passed though, he will become another mentor to her, jut like Raiden though his training will revolve around Balmung and the style best suited to wielding it. Since Noire isn't using anything like rapiers in this fic anymore, she's going to have to adapt her original fighting style to that of her teachers, who have experienced way more than her. **

**Then, there's the whole thing about Noble Phantasms and Heroic Spirits from the Fate Series. Now, this is an original idea I came up with a while back, inspired heavily by Bleach. What I've done with them, is make them like portable Zanpakutos that bind to a worthy person's soul. Those people, if they pass their intended tests, will become able to use the power of a Heroic Spirit without actually becoming one, though their Noble Phantasm. Its almost as if they HAVE become one, but not at the same time, these people have gained the POWERS of a Heroic Spirit but aren't one themselves, though one wouldn't see much difference between them. These kinds of people can use a Noble Phantasm, and have the physical abilities of the Heroic Spirit, whilst those said spirits reside within their weapons which bond with their souls to act as mentors in how to use their powers.**

** Like it was mentioned in the main storyline, the best kind of teacher on how to use a weapon, is the weapon itself, and right now Siegfried and Balmung are practically one entity now. I really liked this concept in Bleach, because it pretty much implied that its best not to see your weapon as merely a tool for combat, weapons and their wielders forge strong bonds with one another over countless life or death situations. This is something that I wanted to do so certain characters (not Nico as I have plans for him) can get powerups which will be QUITE the useful thing for the later arcs of this story. I'm talking about the Lowee Arc, which will come after the Spec Ops Exam mini arc, cause goddess damn it will they be needing them.**

**But anyways, this is going to be Noire's story, and if any of you know what that Amulet is, let me know. Cause the main plotline will DEFINITELY be easier to figure out with that knowledge. **

**Anyways, look forward to the next chapter, and PEACE OUT!**


	6. Chapter 6 - The Main Story Begins!

**Chapter 6 - The Main story begins!**

"HAH!"

GUUUUUUUUUUUUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

An Abnormal with a resemblance to a crocodile, called a 'Gboro-Gboro', howled towards the realm of Celestia as it fell down to the ground below it. Its body littered with differently scaled cuts which had been delivered by a strong, yet fair blade. This Abnormal may have been like a crocodile, but it had fins for arms coming out its sides, whilst sporting a turret-shaped protuberance from its head. As for setting, this Abnormal would die within the confines of an abandoned factory it had reduced to rubble, whilst feeding upon any helpless victim it could find. Hence, why it had earned the ire of a neighbouring village which had sent a request to the Guild. A request which had been accepted by one of the worst people it could have ever come across. If anything, the Abnormal never would have expected its end to come in such a manner, as it had simply been attacked without warning. It hadn't even had the time to put up any defence thanks to it being ambushed so ferociously, hell it didn't even get the chance to witness the one who would end its life either, which resulted in it passing away without even realizing what had happened.

SLAM!

A massive sound accompanied its equally large body when it hit the pavement, its form becoming motionless when its head rested upon the unforgiving earth. This motion was also accompanied by a small wave of dirt which got released in all directions thanks to the Abnormal's body impact. The Abnormal soon began to disappear into Particles like its kind did, whilst the killer simply landed in a crouch then stood up, having her back turned to it whilst huffing.

"Like this was any challenge for me."

The Culprit? Well, just by hearing the pompous, pride-filled voice whilst gazing upon the familiar dress, boots and black ponytail, one would only be natural to figure out the identity of this attacker as Noire, CPU of Lastation. The Blackette flicked the blade of her sword, her Noble Phantasm Balmung before she had sheathed it onto her back. She did so by twirling it in an anti-clockwise direction, skilfully sliding it into the diagonally angled sheathe strapped to her back before she patted her hands together.

'Well, that wasn't too difficult, I had feared that if I failed to take it down with that one attempt, it would call for reinforcements, which would have prolonged this fight WAY more than necessary…' the blackette thought, a sigh of relief escaping hr as she put a hand over her chest, eyes closed in contemplation.

_…__It was indeed a risk for you to have attempted such a manoeuvre, however it wasn't exactly wrong. Acting on what you know at hand is a big part of being a leader, as well as a soldier, but you MUST use moderation. Leaders tend to tread over a very thin line, so they must be as careful as possible when taking risks. Otherwise they will be considered as 'reckless' and 'not leadership material' by their subordinates. That time when you refused to let those representatives conceal the information about hat boy DEATHSTROKE's achievements that one time is a perfect example of this. Luckily, you have strong support, otherwise this could have damaged your overall goals…_

Noire nodded her head when she heard the voice, clear and concise instead of that broken stereo-like one like she had been used to, of Siegfried, the Heroic Spirit of the Noble Phantasm Balmung, in her mind. Thanks to their little 'chat' inside Noire's dreams, she had been able to hear Siegfried with 110% clarity, plus she had asked him if they could talk more in the real world. She'd mostly asked it with a blank expression, but internally she couldn't help but be a little nervous, not like she'd admit it. She... rather liked talking to people normally, and thanks to her returning to Lastation she didn't have as many people to talk to like that. Thus, without asking for her reasons, Siegfried had complied thanks to it being a request from her, informing her just how much his duty to fulfil other people's wishes ran into his core being.

This allowed her to have conversations with her second mentor without having to be contacted through her dreams, though they still did so regularly. 'True, but I also know that a Leader can't let his people rule hi, and not the other way around. There has to be a symbiotic relationship between the staff that the leader works with and himself… though, I'll say this, its not easy practicing what I preach…' she thought back, looking down in bashful shame when she recalled her interactions with her staff members.

Things take time, unfortunately, and in some cases like dealing with her own hubris would take longer than others.

Didn't mean she wasn't willing to try though, quite the opposite if anything.

_…__Yes, that is true, like I said before a Leader treads a very thin line of which they have to be wary of at all times. Still, even more important is the relationships between them and their citizens, which I am relieved to say is getting better with time. Not to mention its what separates you from this 'Avenir' I saw in your soul…_

At THAT name, Noire's eyes narrowed as a vicious scowl formed over her lips. Irritation and anger EXPLODED through her heart when she thought about those assholes, though instead of ranting about it like a brat, as well as how she would have done in the past, Noire calmed herself. She made sure her emotions weren't too chaotic and maintained a mature, level head when she responded. 'Yeah… the reason why that Organisation exists is because of my mistakes, MY negligence. Its pretty much the very PERSONIFICATION of my own failings as a leader… It's almost like I'm fighting my past self whenever I think on how I'm dealing with them…' She realized, a look of comprehension forming on her features.

Just as she made to start heading back home, Noire heard the sound of a truck's tyre's, as well as an engine running, causing her to pause in mid stride. 'Huh?' the blackette thought in surprise whilst looking around to search for the source. Anything revolving around her previous thought process had long since vanished nowin place of this new dilemma taking place before her. Was this a truck she had heard? Why would she hear something like that here? Noire scratched the side of her head as she tried to expand her senses, searching for the source of the noise…

Only, she didn't have to wait very long before the source actually came to view.

"Whooo hooo!"

A loud, feminine cry with a touch of masculinity rang out, sounding quite lively and excited. Not a second later, did Noire spot a van, one which looked to have been outfitted with metallic bars over the front, sides and back, jump off an elevated section of ground.

WHOOSH!

Time seemed to slow to a crawl like it did when Noire used her ZANDATSU, flying or rathr gliding through the air, before it landed on the ground below. The landing nearly caused it to capsize over like an unbalanced ship on the ocean, had it not been for the driver's insane skill over driving. It spun and spun around like a disk, before finally ending right beside the completely STUNNED blackette. The sudden halting however, caused a wave of dirt to blow by her, causing Noire to cover her face with her forearm as her hair blew backwards from the force.

"Kya-!"

Unfortunately for her, it didn't stop her from falling onto her backside, a girlish squeak escaping her lips from the fright. "Wha-wha-wha-WHAT THE HEEEEEEEEEEELL?!" A loud, shrill scream escaped her lips without her being able to control it, her face pale with the shock and surge of adrenaline. 'Wat the heck is this?! My heart is about to fly out my chest through my mouth!'

By the time everything settled, the Van's apparent driver pressed a button, and the window nearest to Noire lowered itself into the vehicle. This allowed her to see who it was who lay inside, revealing it to be… "Yo, Lady Noire! Fancy meeting you here!"

"Ch-Chian?! What the heck, why are you here?!"

Yup, that's right. Inside the van, was the Engineer known as Chian whom Noire had helped out previously. The blunette mechanic grinned whilst lifting her goggles up to her forehead with one gloved hand. Leaning out of the driver's window, she gave a lopsided, guilty smirk towards the blackette CPU, tilting her head to the side. "Yeah, sorry 'bout that. Haven't been doing much driving recently, so my skills were kinda rusty." She apologized, resting both her arms on the slit which the window would have slipped through. What she didn't say was how many in her company say how her driving skills were an equivalent to an off-road monster truck driver's: Dangerous and dastardly. "As for your question, this client of yours is actually one of my Company's partners. They told me that their helper was here, so I decided to give em a lift back. Didn't think it'd be you though. Anyways, its good that I found you here, thought it was actually that redhead Spec Ops kid."

At the mention of that 'Spec Ops Kid'', Noire had a PRETTY good idea of who she had been referring to, as evident by the comprehension in her eyes. "You mean Nico? How is he, have you heard anything from him?" She questioned. Throughout the last two weeks, the blackette had heard nothing from the redhead Spec Ops Agent. It had been like he had jumped off the grid completely, vanishing entirely from Gamindustri's eyes. Noire wouldn't admit the level of worry inside her for the redhead since he had indeed helped her like Neptune had, but… yeah. The look on her features pretty much betrayed her thoughts, something Chian noticed right away but didn't say anything.

"No idea, haven't seen him. Though he's definitely gonna be fine, I mean this IS the Spec Ops we're talking about, they go through tough shit all day, its practically the air they breathe. Enough of that, fancy a lift? I'm heading back with some supplies anyways, so it's a win-win for us."

* * *

After accepting Chian's offer, Noire sat with her on the passenger seat, looking out the window at the scenery whilst it passed them by. Instead of on her back, Balmung's sheathe (which contained the Noble Phantasm itself), rested on her lap. Judging by the faint energy she could sense radiating from the blade near the sheathe's opening, Noire could tell that this was a source of Balmung's level of power increasing in proportion to how much she could draw out.

All the while, Chian drove the Van along the country road in a leisurely manner, a stark contrast to her… well, interesting entrance. Their destination: SONY, though the blackette didn't say much for the time being. She had been mostly thinking about what she had told Siegfried earlier, you know about that whole Avenir thing.

What she had said to Siegfried really did contain a lot of truth to it. Avenir had grown so much because she hadn't been there to regulate it, and because of that they once held dominance over her Nation... Instead of where that power TRULY belonged. Noire facing off against it ever since the zombie invasion happened, she saw it as her current self, fixing the mistakes that her old self had foolishly created in her pursuit of a single, stupid title.

So far, things were looking up, and Avenir had been mysteriously behaving recently…. Which honestly worried her. She didn't know a thing about their end goal, but she DID know that Lowe had something to do with it. She remembered looking through some shipping documents and saw how a load of them came from Avenir itself, being mostly military grade weaponry that could be found within any kind of military. But, because she didn't have full control over everything yet though, she couldn't launch an investigation yet.

'Even so… to think that I've come so far…' Noire thought, closing her eyes while leaning her head back. Memories of the experiences she'd had so far flashed through her mind, a reminder of the progress she had made. '2 Weeks, huh? Feels like time's just flown by…'

2 weeks had passed since that day, when Noire took down the Succubus and, to add to the experience, learned of the connection between her and the Heroic Spirit Siegfried through Balmung. 2 Weeks since she had accepted the offer for Siegfried to take her under his wing in order to teach her how to properly wield the mighty Noble Phantasm. Not to mention, 2 weeks since she killed that Succubus and gained that Amulet as a reward, but more on that later…

Cause if she thought Raiden had been a hard ass instructor during training, Siegfried surpassed him IMMENSELY.

In the beginning, Noire had been taught from the ground up, how to wield Balmung in the same manner that Siegfried did in his original lifetime. He had already looked through the many battles she had fought with Balmung and had deduced that her fighting style needed to be remodelled to fit his own like a glove if she wanted to get further into using Balmung's power. As such, swordsmanship training had been the first thing she had been trained in, Siegfried had declared. Originally when Raiden had taught her what he knew, his style had been born from his own special circumstances, not to mention he had self-taught his current sword techniques. His combat prowess involved him using every limb that his body possessed as a weapon to take out the enemy. One could say that it was a style best suited for infiltrations as it focused on taking out the enemy as quick and efficiently as possible. As such, the style that he taught her wasn't as… refined, shall we say, as the style that Siegfried decided to have her learn. A style which befit a ruler and not an assassin like Raiden. However, Siegfried DID admit that Raiden's style of combat had indeed impressed him with its simplicity yet complicated nature, especially with the altering of his own perceptions of time to deliver faster slashes to the enemy, and because of this he felt it wise to keep some of the core foundations intact. Instead, he had her combine their two styles, resulting in the current swordsmanship style Noire now possessed.

She called it: The Sword Mistress Style.

A style of combat which was both fit for a ruler who fought on the front lines, yet it also had the capacity to be used in smaller scales to effectively render the opponent incapacitated for a finishing blow. Such aspects had the ability to interlock with one another, for example Noire could use the incapacitation of Raiden's style to render the enemy unable to defend themselves from one last blow from the overbearing ruler-like style Siegfried possessed. And on infiltration, if the situation called for it the domineering aspects for the ruler style would be easily implemented.

The best of both worlds, Noire and Siegfried agreed on, though it would be some time before the Style's full potential could be unlocked, as for that to happen Noire would need to train a LOT in its principles. Still, she would do her damned best to do so, cause like she always said, Lastation could only do everything! That… and well, this was something she felt strongly for, perhaps slightly less than Lastation's safety, but way up there.

All the while, it DID lead to the second thing which improved: her ability to wield Balmung. Thanks to having trained so much in solely wielding this Noble Phantasm, she had been able to improve both her effectiveness as well as the amount of power she could harness from the blade itself. Though, one surprise Siegfried did NOT anticipate was just how much affinity towards this Noble Phantasm that Noire really had.

She practically looked more and more like himself when he had been younger and in his prime, wielding the blade for the glory of his Kingdom. That had been how well she had taken to using such a blade, which became even more impressive when she assumed her HDD form as she had a LOT more freedom with her Share/Divine Energy whatever she liked to call it, to work with. As such, whereas before when she had been stated to only be able to draw out 20% of Balmung's full power, which by itself could destroy small groups of people at a time whilst barely destroying a building, now she had nearly reached the 30% threshold. Another 10% before she would reach the first bottleneck in which she would have to break before further advancing her training.

Though, this didn't mean she would forget her other weapons, she merely just focused a lot more on Balmung rather than Ashbringer, Raijin or her HF Blade. Heck, Siegfried had even commented that Ashbringer's power may not be the same nature as a Noble Phantasm, but it could certainly be called one given its history. Perhaps it would eventually become one, it all depended on future events. Plus, her Sword Mistress Style could still be applied to them as well, Noire just had to keep in mind that it would best be implemented when wielding Balmung.

Speaking of Balmung, in between sessions, Noire had learned more about Noble Phantasms and how they operated from Siegfried, like there being multiple types of them and their classifications. Noble Phantasms, according to him, were classified by their effectiveness against enemies, which seemed quite similar to a lot of power rankings in Gamindustri. Though, it would be possible for a Noble Phantasm may have multiple classifications depending on its abilities, like for example it could be classed as one in one situation, but in another it could be a different one.

The classifications of these weapons were as follows:

· Anti-Unit Noble Phantasm - Anti-Unit Noble Phantasms are those specialized against defeating other people in single combat. Compared to stronger weapons, a majority of Anti-Unit Noble Phantasms will not go beyond defeating other beings, no matter how strong the magical energy or curse they wield. The advantage over stronger weapons is that they can be compared to guns with unlimited ammo while Anti-Army Noble Phantasms are one-time missiles. Missiles are more powerful, but an Anti-Unit can be continuous like Invisible Air. There are also those that are very cost effective, so it can be called a sure-hit arrow that is better at killing single people than a cannonball.

· Anti-Unit (Self) Noble Phantasm - Anti-Unit Noble Phantasm used upon the wielder instead of another target.

· Anti-Mind Noble Phantasm - This classification of Noble Phantasms that targets the mind.

· Labyrinth Noble Phantasm - The classification of Noble Phantasms that bring forth a Labyrinth or something similar to the concept of a maze.

· Anti-Army Noble Phantasm - Anti-Army Noble Phantasms are those with a wide enough range to be specialized against armies. They are more powerful weapons than Anti-Unit Noble Phantasms, capable of easily blowing them away, but they must be used more wisely because of their larger cost. Using an A Rank Noble Phantasm takes a great deal of mana, so they must wait before they can use it again.

· Anti-Army (Self) Noble Phantasm - Anti-Army Noble Phantasms used upon the wielder's own army instead of another group.

· Anti-Gate Noble Phantasm - The classification of Noble Phantasms that has power capable of blowing away sturdy walls, doors and gates.

· Anti-Fortress Noble Phantasm - This rank has powerful Noble Phantasms that can even blow away solid fortified structures. While the difference between Anti-Unit and Anti-Army is the variation in area of effect, Anti-Fortress Noble Phantasms are distinguished from other categories by the great difference in power.

· Fortress Noble Phantasm - Fortress Noble Phantasms are those that consist of solid fortified structures.

· Anti-Populace Noble Phantasm - The classification of Noble Phantasms that targets the people, whether they are of the masses or they are that of a civilization.

· Anti-City Noble Phantasm - The classification of Noble Phantasms that has enough range to potentially cover an entire city.

· Anti-Country Noble Phantasm - The classification of Noble Phantasms that has enough range to potentially cover an entire country.

· Anti-World Noble Phantasm - The classification of Noble Phantasms that affect the World itself.

· Anti-Thaumaturgy Noble Phantasm - The classification of Noble Phantasms that are meant to be used for the dispelling and destruction of magic and all kinds of thaumaturgy.

· Anti-Treasure Noble Phantasm - The classification of Noble Phantasms that targets other treasures, potentially including Noble Phantasms.

· Anti-Divine Noble Phantasm - The classification of Noble Phantasms that are effective against Divine Spirits.

· Barrier Noble Phantasm - The classification of Noble Phantasms used to create barriers, but it does not include those that are also used to attack.

· Suicide Attack Noble Phantasm - The classification of Noble Phantasms that sacrifice the user's life.

Learning of the versatility of these mythical weapons, Noire couldn't help but note just how dangerous they could be in the wrong hands. Especially ones which could affect worlds or destroy entire armies. According to Siegfried, Balmung had the power of an Anti-Army Noble Phantasm, but currently thanks to the bottlenecks he'd placed on it, Balmung would be classed as an Anti-Unit Noble Phantasm. As a result, the more power she could draw from it, the greater the drainage she would have to suffer. Though, if she let herself use other power sources while increasing her own reserves, then it would be possible to fire off Balmung's TWILIGHT WAVE more than once, the benefits of such a Noble Phantasm with more than one anti-army round did NOT seem very unappealing, not one bit.

Siegfried also mentioned how Heroic Spirits could be summoned and bound to a living being as their servants, through a seriously draining ritual which would bind them together. The 'Master' would serve as an energy source for the Heroic Spirit, while the mater's servant would be able to fight to their fullest capacity. Although, the Spirit chosen for the contract depended on the master's themselves, it wasn't like they could choose their own Servants. She recalled how Mundus had done so with Okada Izou at Halo Mountain, although he had restricted the guy heavily due to the method he used, and Siegfried had even stated that he didn't use the same ritual. Therefore, he couldn't go all out or use his Noble Phantasm, which meant that they had all lost to someone who couldn't even show off his full might.

Only made the humiliation worse in Noire's mind.

Finally, the third thing, which was the leadership lessons that Noire had received from Siegfried. According to him, Noire had learned that he had once been a Leanbox native, a Prince of noble lineage who had once wielded Balmung across dozens of military campaigns and adventures. Most importantly, she had learned of the time he had slain a Dragon called Fafnir, and while it sounded like an epic tale of man fighting a dragon (and the dragon seemed exceptionally powerful due to the entire continent being thrown into disarray thanks to the fight) she couldn't help but feel there was more to it. Eventually, he had come to become a King through marriage to a Princess of a Noble House, but thanks to some bad decisions on his part, he had to sacrifice his life in order to appease the masses. In his words: A hero acts out of the supplications of the people, and therefore should not act without being asked. This is because a hero is such a being. Because they possess overwhelmingly immense power, they must not act out of their own will and try to grant their own wish. A hero is a being that fulfils the wishes of others and must not ever tread any further than that.

To Noire, that had sounded like one heck of a curse, rather than a blessing. Being a hero sounds good and all, since you'll be well liked by those you protect, but… that title could also be very binding, not to mention one would have to tread lightly their entire lives. Then again, it actually made her think that being a hero and being a Leader of a Country weren't necessarily all that different. Especially with how both of them have to be about the masses and not their own selfish desires. As such, whilst Siegfried often gave her advice on how to be a better leader, neither of them felt like she would become the PERFECT leader (as much as it stung her pride to say so). Mostly because of the personality she had, and her hubris too let's not forget that. But, if she could aim to be a great leader for her people, then that would be good enough. She didn't deserve to be the called the best leader in existence nor did she deserve to be called a True Goddess either. No, she would have to focus on what she COULD do, not what she COULDN'T.

'Heh, now that I think back on it, I seem to have truly changed…' Noire thought to herself, a chortle escaping her as the Van drove down the path. There weren't any Abnormals around her, but that could change with any surprise encounters, something which would be commonplace in this world, but she didn't have much of a worry. Up above, the bright sunlight rays beamed down through the cloudy skies, which made her wonder if it had become afternoon already. Well, it'll likely be the mid-afternoon when she got back If she kept this pace, but after 2 weeks of intense training, Noire felt like she wanted to take a small break, though she paid it no mind as her and Chian continued on their way.

'Everything feels... so much lighter now. It feels good…'

* * *

Like she had thought, the time of day indeed had reached the mid-afternoon stages by the time that she had returned to Lastation's capital. At this time, there weren't as many people loitering on the streets, nor were there as many shops that were still open. Those that were closed showed themselves as shops which wold only be active in the day hours, though, so Noire wasn't worried. In fact, to explain further, in recent times the idea of people staying up at night had become a thing, so shops made SPECIFICALLY for those who preferred the night life had been built, and as a result they had made quite a fair profit for themselves. Apparently, the night sky was a much better sight to see than the cloudy days, plus people who normally had exhausting days would come out and find themselves rejuvenated by the new night life.

But that would be for another time.

'Ahhhhh, home sweet home…' Noire thought to herself, beaming happily, Chian having dropped her off at the Guild so she could complete her Quest, as she took a large gasp to inhale a big chunk of SONY's air. As polluted as it were thanks to all the industry in the area, Noire couldn't help but smile in satisfaction. She never liked leaving her people to their own devises for long, since she always feared that something bad would end up happening to them when she'd wouldn't be looking. There was also the sweet feeling of being back in familiar territory, as in recent times exiting Lastation's Capital City had started to give Noire the feeling of stepping into a whole new world. Though, she figured that to be stupid to assume true, since it wasn't that the world was new… it was just changing, changing into something else.

Into what, she didn't know, however.

_...Now that you are indeed back in your Country's Capital, what do you intend to do now?... _

'Oh, that's easy.' Noire replied when she heard Siegfried ask her a question, feeling the rattling of the blade within the sheathe on her back. She'd already begun strolling through the streets back towards the Basilicom whilst she thought back to the Heroic Spirit. 'I should have some workload that I left for the training trip today, I'll go ahead and finish that off before retiring for the night. Thanks to my training though, quests have been much easier for me to accomplish, so I've had more time to see to the affairs of my Nation.' She explained, before glancing to the side when she noticed a… particular sweet store on the opposite side of the street. Almost instantly, she'd paused mid stride to stop right in her tracks and take it in

The sweet store looked to be one of those rare types of stores, the ones which were open practically 24/7 due to having workers for the day and night shifts. The reason why these kinds of stores were rare, well, it would be due to not many people wanting to work through the night, which could create problems for future employment now that Noire thought about it. Perhaps she could think about that some more when she headed to bed tonight. Nevertheless, a part of her nearly sung when she smelled the fresh aroma of various dairy products permeating from the store's interior thanks to the door being open. 'Ahhhhh, that smell is soooo good…'

Let it be known, that Noire had a LITTLE bit of a sweet tooth when it came to products like this. Sweets were a delicacy to her that she couldn't afford to have very often, especially since she liked to keep her figure as perfect as it were. She held MASSIVE pride over the fact that her bust wasn't as big as Vert's or small like that brat's, but just right for her body type. It gave her the feeling of being the best of multiple worlds, which only stroked her ego further. As such, Noire didn't dare have way too many sweets despite her inner sweet-lover pleading her to do so, she wanted to keep her perfectly proportioned body thank you very much. She'd rather not risk getting things like back problems from the massive melons that Vert had, not to mention she would rather not have her bust be as small as Lowee's CPU and be known as a brat like her.

_...Why not go in? It has been a while since you ate something sugary, your body could use the extra energy for the impending tasks…_

When Siegfried spoke this, he actually made Noire blink in realization, her previous thoughts grinding to a stop like car tyres along a road. Thing was, her second teacher had a point there, thanks to the 2 week's worth of intense training, Noire hadn't actually eaten anything sweet or sugary, having instead restrained herself to more nutritious foods when she had meals. As such, right now marked the first time she had even APPROACHED a shop like this… so, should she change that? Should she go in and enjoy a bunch of delicious delights?

Looking at the shop for a moment, Noire nearly chose to go in herself… until she saw the amount of people and INSTANTLY realized the exact 'nature' of this shop. This was due to how the people in the shop were… well, pretty much couples. Guy and girl, girl and girl, not to mention guy and guy, pretty much any kind of couple one could imagine resided within that building. Heck, the entire atmosphere of the shop's interior had that 'cheesy sweetness' which would only come from those in a relationship, the closeness which only couples could truly conceive or emit from their daily antics.

'Ugh…!'

Truth be told… Noire didn't find herself very good with things like this. She wasn't someone who had any experience in… well, romance after all. She was dozens of centuries old for goddess's sake, if she DID find someone it'd be so similar to robbing from a freaking cradle! As someone who greatly valued her public image, as well as was trying to regain the trust of her people, something like romance… wasn't exactly a good idea. She'd always kept this in mind, all the way back to when Neptune and her friends came to Lastation then left a while later.

Then, there would be Noire herself, someone who hadn't ANY kind of romantic experience before in all her many centuries of living. Mostly due to lack of interest as well as the Console War, but even now she didn't find herself too eager to engage in such… intimacy with another person. It wasn't because she hadn't entertained the thought before, the thoughts she'd had since her descent from Celestia more than being backup evidence for this… she just hadn't gotten used to the idea of something like that. Nor did she entertain the thought of doing that, either, as if she were to have someone in mind… she'd rather it be someone she could trust. Someone she could confide in and be at ease around… Someone who didn't belittle her for her secret 'hobby' would be a bonus too, now that she thought about it. Though, as a leader she may not have that option as Siegfried had once commented to her one time. Leaders do what they can for their people, and sometimes that meant sealing off any hope of happiness for the sake of the Nation they ruled.

So yeah, Noire didn't have much experience in romance.

'O-On second thought… maybe I'll just… head back home…' Noire eventually concluded with herself, pushing down the surge of disappointment she felt inside as she twisted on her heels. She then proceeded to walk away from the sweet shop, though her legs felt much heavier than they normally did. She didn't even want to BEGIN imagining how Siegfried might be taking her actions right now, as during the 2 weeks they knew one another, he didn't take cowardly actions too lightly. 'I-Its just too em-embarrassing to go in somewhere like that all al-alone…'

_…__Very well… In any case, I do indeed have a suggestion for you. When you finish your work for the day, perhaps you can pay a visit to one of Lastation's library's. Its nothing compared to this 'Lowee' place which seems to be renowned for its book culture, but it isn't barren. Maybe you can finally find something relating to the Pendant you have…_

Just as she feared, Noire could sense the disappointment in her when Siegfried spoke, though it wasn't as bad as it normally would have been. Either it was to do with the gravity of the cowardice, since it wasn't like she was leaving any of her comrades to die, or he had become used to her… quirks by this point. Noire felt better when she thought that it had to be the latter. Still, when he spoke of the Pendant, Noire shifted herself into a more serious demeanour, pulling out the Pendant from within the confines of her dress pocket. Whilst walking, Noire pulled it up to her eye level, holding it by the circular frame whilst looking into its crimson jewel with a calculating gleam in her eyes.

'This thing… Its so mysterious, I put aside some time these last few weeks to look into this thing… but I can't find any records relating to it…'

Indeed, throughout the last few weeks, Noire had put aside some time in her busy schedule, any kind of free time she COULD spare anyways, in order to conduct some research on this strange Pendant. Ever since she had gotten this thing, Noire couldn't help but feel some sort of… significance, from it. This feeling gradually got stronger and stronger within her until she couldn't resist anymore and tried looking into it. However, even after combing SONY's Library Noire hadn't found one SPEC of information relating to this thing's nature, nor its origins. Sometimes, she almost felt herself going mad with each and every failure to learn anything new about it, with her pride compelling her to not let herself stop.

However, it wasn't like she well and truly knew NOTHING about it though, which softened the blow to her pride slightly. What she DID know about it though, and this was simply the result of Noire focusing her sensing abilities onto it, was that this Pendant had ties to the emerging Demonic forces which assaulted Leanbox. She could tell because of the strong Demonic Power she could feel coursing through the Jewel (kind of like those items, Raijin included, which Vert let them have from the Vault), so in hindsight Noire had expected that there wouldn't be much information about it. Anything even remotely demonic would not be very knowledgeable for the people of Gamindustri due to not having been exposed to those elements for very long.

Shaking her head, Noire put the Pendant back in her pocket. Ever since she had obtained it, the blackette CPU had not ONCE put it in her Inventory, not one time at all. The reason for this? Well, if anyone knew about this particular detail and curiously asked her, she wouldn't have been able answer, simply because she hadn't one herself. In all the time she had it, the mysteries surrounding this Pendant had intrigued her on a level which few things in this world could ever have achieved. As a result, Noire would make sure to keep it on her person at all times… so yeah, one could say that she had a strong attachment to this Pendant. 'Well, I'll see about that then. I do still want to know what this thingis about, after all… at least enough to know if it's a threat to my people. There are so many enemies all around us, having more would not do anyone any favours…'

_… __Indeed. Though, I do believe that some of the Spec Ops Agents will prefer it this way, since they love to fight. There are many battle maniacs among their ranks after all…_

'You can say that again…' Noire answered Siegfried sighing in a sudden bout of exhaustion with a sweat drop emerging over her forehead, remembering how among those in her Spec Ops Branch, there were many who RELISHED the thought of going up against powerful monsters. To walk the thin red line between life and death only to come out victorious, that was how they lived and thanks to living it for so long, they had come to the conclusion that it would be all they'd live for. Money? Fame? Companionship? None of these would matter to these people as long as they could continue denying death their souls. Hell, lately more of those Spec Ops Agents had been taking quests which took them to Leanbox in order to contest the many Demons appearing there. She could see why, with the Demons of Khorne, their followers and their core beliefs regarding martial prowess, that place would be like an all-you-can-fight-buffet to them.

In any case, Noire decided to put those thoughts aside for the time being as she continued her stride towards the Basilicom, intent on finishing work for the day. Last time she'd checked, Noire had found her Nation's Oracle having been in a business meeting with some of the companies and mercenary groups on her own side, so she would be alone in the Basilicom today aside from any staff who worked either in night shifts or overtime. She wasn't the only one with a hard-working attitude, you know.

'Alright, paperwork here I come!'

* * *

That following night…

"Phew! I'm all done at last!"

After more than 5 hours of non-stop paperwork, a relieved exclamation of joy escaped her lips while Noire stretched her arms above her head. A low groan of satisfaction left afterwards when she felt the stress leaving her arms, as well as her legs when she straightened them under her desk, there being enough room for her to do so when she pushed her chair backwards. Though 5 hours wasn't exactly very long by her standards, since she could chain together multiple all-nighters even without a source of caffeine (best drink there was, in her eyes), the reason why she felt so good had been due to the complexity of the issues involved.

Number one of these, were some troubling movements from the Avenir faction, which by the day had been losing power and support from the masses. Something which Noire couldn't help but smirk to herself in smug satisfaction, as it had proved a theory she had developed when looking at some documents a while back. That the only reason why the Avenir Faction was so large to begin with, was that at the core of those people, there had been some… reluctance, hesitation practically, in accepting Noire as the CPU. Something which she could completely understand since she hadn't been the best of leaders for a long time. These people had been responsible for a number of offences such as assassinating her own faction members, delaying business meetings, trying to undermine her authority etc. But even if Noire had every right to be mad at them for obstructing her with all their power, she didn't find it in her heart to be so, since she understood their motivations. Plus, it helped that gradually, they were won over by her sincerity and actions following Avenir's little Zombie attack, even the truce with Planeptune eventually showed itself as a blessing in disguise.

Things were rocky at first, with more than a few fights nearly breaking out if not for some clever mediation efforts, but Noire liked to think that things could have gone WAY worse. Plus, while she DID still wonder what those shipments to Lowee were about, she didn't let it get rid of the good mood she had.

After all, it was rare that she got a chance to celebrate like this, so she'd take it whilst she could!

RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING-RING!

Unfortunately for her, her brief respite came to an end much too abruptly, before she could even enjoy it. 'Grr! Just when I finally finished my paperwork… poo. Hmph, who the heck would be calling at this hour?' Noire wondered, frowning as she picked up the Phone next to her desk and answered the call. "Hello, Lady Black Heart Speaking."

On the other end, it was revealed to be the receptionist whom had called her. A fact which Noire became immediately aware of the exact SECOND she had heard the receptionist's voice through the phone. "Lady Black Heart, I'm just calling to let you know that a Guest wishes to see you. He says you will want to see him, and it cannot wait." The receptionist spoke, trying to keep a formal tone and professional demeanour. However, judging by the sound of her voice, Noire instantly realized something was up. The formal professionalism she exuded through the call felt... forced, more so than any normal person who didn't like their job but worked anyways for their own reasons. She knew that the receptionist had gone through some rough times with family, and thus was in a pretty bad mood (she'd listened to her complaints to her colleagues more than a FEW times when they weren't aware of her presence). 'Wonder what's wrong...?' Noire thought to herself in concern, sensing similar thoughts coming from Siegfried while Balmung rattled within her Soul. It too didn't feel very good, in fact it felt like an animal suddenly aware that an enemy was nearby.

"Alright, send him up. I'll receive him in my office. If your unable to work efficiently you can go home early if you wish. I'll finish up things here when I'm done with this last meeting."

"Yes, Lady Black Heart, and thank you for your generosity."

With that done, Noire smiled to herself when she sensed a slight rising of faith inside her from her actions just now, You see, THAT was a good way to win the trust of the citizens, offering help when they truly needed it. Though, her good mood vanished when she put the phone back in its receiver with an audible 'CLICK' before sighing. She then adopted a thoughtful, suspicious frown. Something wasn't right here, she wasn't expecting anyone this late in the evening, and especially not a male either. 'Is it Avenir's faction? Are they trying to pull some underhanded trick?' She wondered, concern building within her chest as various theories formed within her brain.

_... Whatever you do, Noire, do NOT act recklessly. You may not sense it due to how well this person's hiding it, but I do. This person... he is a wielder of Demonic Power, and he seems to be significantly skilled in hiding it if me straining my senses to barely pick it up is anything to go by..._

'You serious?!' Noire shouted in her mind when she heard Siegfried say those words through their connection. THAT did not sound good, not at all, she remembered the times she had experienced users of Demonic Power before, and NONE of them had any signs of pleasantries to them. The very INSTANT she had heard the fact that this man used such energy, serious warning bells rang in her mind like the alarms of a triggered alarm system in a high-profile secret facility. A Demonic Power user within her Capital City did NOT spell any good news, not to mention the possibilities that got implied by his appearance. Were there more? Were the forces of Chaos making an entryway into Lastation? Did things get even MORE complicated for her without her even knowing? Forcing herself to calm down after taking a few breaths, her nerves forcibly restrained themselves as Noire decided to question Siefried some more. 'Can you tell anything else? Like, what level of strength he had?'

_...No. Like I said, he's hidden his power well. Though, just from that I can speculate that this person is likely hiding a very strong power, as if not then why else would he risk coming into this Building. A Building coursing with divinity. As such it would be best if you do your best NOT to fight him. The amount of collateral damage could be cataclysmic here, as many Demonic Power users are quite destructive. Its how their power is measured..._

Upon hearing these words, the blackette thought back to the Demons, the World Eaters and the Bloodthirster. 'I see...' she mumbled in her head with an understanding glint in her eyes. Honestly, Noire somewhat had a feeling that was the case, she just didn't have anything to confirm it with. The powers that these Demons possessed may be quite versatile and dangerous, but they all seemed to have different levels of destructibility to them. Thinking about this made her think back to Mundus back at Halo Mountain, as not only did he seem strong Noire had gotten the unmistakable feeling of similarity between him and another member of Neptune's Party. 'That guy... what's his connection to Nico? Judging from what I've seen, it seems Nico is aware of this connection, so could it be the Demonic Powers that he possesses? In any case, if destructibility is the ruler which measures Demonic Power, then... yeah, I'll follow Siegfried's advice for the time being, at least until I get a better read of this guy's power.'

Only seconds after that, did the door knob to her Office twist, accompanied by the sounds of some locks sliding apart to let the door open. Noire's eyes sharpened as if she were in a political meeting with politicians, her hands clasped together before her as she leaned up straight on her seat, her legs crossed under the Table. A perfect noblewoman's pose, many would say. 'Here we go...' she thought to herself, hiding any emotions behind her cool and calm facade as she saw the 'visitor' step inside.

Turned out, the visitor was actually a tall, pale-skinned bald male adult. Noire noticed right away that his eyes were heterochronic, one being a dull grey while the other looked to be a bluish colour. The SECOND thing she noticed about him as he entered the room (not closing the door behind him to her annoyance, which then became suspicion when it eerily closed by itself), was the large burn scar which covered nearly half his face. Though even creepier was how it seemed to shift itself on occasion... almost like it was its own living entity. Such a thing did indeed cause more shivers to go up her spine than she'd expected, but she kept her cool façade. Even when she noticed how dark, ominous and deadly oppressive the office had become with his entry. No longer could she feel the divinity that came with being in the Basilicom, instead it felt more like an ordinary place that wouldn't be able to protect anyone from the coming storm.

Pushing those thoughts aside for the moment, Noire tried to focus on something else for the time being lest she end up losing control over her composure. Businessman and politicians she could handle, but Demons? Beings who could destroy entire cities with a flick of their fingers? A LITLE higher on the danger scale. As the man approached her, Noire saw how he was seemingly dressed in a rather simple minister-esque fashion, consisting of a purely black-coloured ensemble devoid of colour or any lightly-coloured shades. In actuality, his clothing, along with the Tome in his hand, made her think that this man had experience as either a Basilicom staff member (not something she'd like to think about, this kind of guy being anywhere NEAR Her), or a Scholar of some sorts. He had that intelligent demeanour she had seen in many such people before, but with the shadows which cast themselves over his eyes, Noire also felt a sinister undertone to him.

If Siegfried hadn't told her about his true nature, then Noire would have DEFINITELY been more unnerved by his presence than she felt right now.

"Is your name... Noire? Or is it... Lady Black Heart: The Second Siegfried... owner of the Phantasmal Greatsword, Felling of the Sky Demon?"

The moment she heard the man speak in that slow monotone voice, alarm bells screamed out inside her mind as she resisted the urge to show just how much those words caused her to grow tense. This guy... he knew about Balmung? Siegfried too? While Siegfried she could guess since Heroic Spirits apparently were well known to humanity even on a half conscious level, but to know that she had inherited Balmung and the title of Siegfried as well? THAT information had been kept strictly under wraps by her. Not even the gossipers back at the Gala or anyone at Halo Mountain was aware of it in the depths that this man did.

_…To know about me so quickly... Noire, do not under any circumstance underestimate this person. Keep your guard up..._

'I'm aware of that, don't worry...' Noire thought back to the Heroic Spirit. Thanks to those words, this man quickly caused her suspicions of him to rise exponentially, an urge to draw the said blade rising within her gut. "I don't know where you heard that from..." Noire started, her caution seeping into her words like a liquid dripping from its container. "But for the sake of equality, answer me this: Where did you hear this?"

"... From my Master."

Again speaking slowly, Noire's nerves almost got the better of her as the man walked right up to the table, his eyes leering down at her like a scholar looking at his newest project. She also noticed something else, something which alarmed her even more, and that was the direction his gaze seemed to be focusing towards. It had been focused down towards her pocket... the exact same one which she had the Pendant she'd been looking into. It took all she had not to protectively shield it with her right hand as she almost felt like he would try and steal it out from under her. Still, she did find herself mildly intrigued about this 'master' that this man talked about. Obviously, this master would have to be a Demonic Power user, and a strong one a that to command someone like this guy to call him such. "Your master, huh?" Noire remarked thoughtfully as she eyed the Scholarly man warily. "And what would your 'master' want with me?"

"... He wishes to extend you... and invitation. He hopes you'll be able to... receive it."

When he had began speaking once more, Noire noticed that the man's hand had been nearing the edge of her Table, which quickly raised her suspicions to the 90% mark if she were playing that one stealth series which had cybernetic ninjas and other soldiers in it. The fact that this Master wanted HER to meet HIM not the other way around DID serve to tick her off though, which perhaps had been the thing this man had been intending from the start. Cause it distracted her log enough for him to grip the table and, by the end of his sentence... flip it up towards her.

Instinctively Noire reacted, back flipping over the Table as it landed on its side with the flat surface pointing towards the office entrance. Time seemed to slow down during this moment, in which Noire adjusted herself in the air with technique and grace which would have been expected from someone like her. Landing on the table and summoning her HF Blade, Noire pointed it towards where the man had stood... only, she saw that he was no longer there anymore, her blade just pointed at empty space. "He's gone..." Noire muttered under her breath, hopping from the Table and scowling. 'My Desk has been built into the building itself, its impossible to move it about because of this. So, for him to literally UPROOT my Desk like that means this guy has some power behind his limbs. Better make note of that...'

_... I am more intrigued with this Master of his. Who is he? I am curious as to the answer to this, not to mention that the scholar's strength seemed significant. That means this 'Master' of his must be either just as strong if not stronger than him. I suggest you not tell anyone what happened here for the time being, Noire. We know little to nothing about this threat, thus it would be unwise to instigate needless panic..._

'I know...' Noire thought, already on the same wavelength as the Tenant within her body. In fact, she intended to see who the heck this Master was anyways, what kind of person would expect a Goddess to just come to meet him like she was just some maid at a maid service shop. She may have cosplayed as a Maid once, but still its the principle of the matter! 'Still, as much as it insults my pride to admit this, seems like the only thing I can do right now is to see who this 'Master ' could be. I'll have to..'

SHATTER

All of a sudden, her danger senses EXPLODED when Noire found multiple areas around her suddenly shatter like glass, like the fabric of space itself had been destroyed to allow these... creatures, to come through. She didn't get a good look at them, because she had reflexively activated her ZANDATSU, which altered her time perception enough for her to move out of the way with time to spare. She jumped through the appearing creatures, and landed before her door whilst twisting around to get into her Default Sword Mistress Style Stance. This stance was the same one which Raiden used whenever he used his own HF Blade, while her ZANDATSU deactivated to let time resume its normal pace.

Only THEN did she get a look at her surprise attackers, and when she did Noire nearly gagged at what she saw. There, looming and shambling aabout like living corpses (not something hich sparked good memories in her), were what looked like these 6 grey, humanoid creatures, Demons Noire son realized when she sensed their Demonic Energies flowing through them, which bore a certain resemblance to the figure of the Grim Reaper from popular folklore which Noire had heard and read about sometimes. They wore these dark cloaks and black bandages on their limbs, their bodies seemingly more skeleton than human with the lack of muscle on them. Lastly, was the fact that each of them had large Scythes as their main form of offence, while their backs seemed to be impaled by multiple spikes of varying lengths.

'Ugh, gross! These things look disgusting...!'

_…Then again, Demons tend to have that aesthetic in spades, Noire..._

'True, but that doesn't change the fact that they're repulsive.' The blackette thought back to her inner Heroic Spirit whilst glaring at these approaching Demons. Holding out her HF Blade, Noire got ready to unleash hell. She had mentally thought of summoning either Balmung or Ashbringer to deal with these guys, but had decided against it. While gross to look at, Noire had sensed that their overall strength wasn't that much. Definitely better than an average trained human, but not someone on her level. Hence, why she went with her weakest weapon first.

"Alright you apes, lets get this over with!"

**(Play OST - Dante's Office 7 Hells battle)**

Quickly darting forwards, Noire shot towards the furthest one to the right. The Scythe wielding creature groaned and growled at her, raising its weapon for a downward slash which she had sidestepped, then chained in a few slashes to its back before finishing by slicing it in half through the waist and stabbing into its face. The creature groaned in pain at these movements, which hit had been too slow to perceive, before it vanished into Particles, which fortunately for it managed to conceal the fact that 2 more of its brethren were already spinning their Scythes a full 60 degrees towards her from both her left and right flanks. If they hit, they would have bisected her in half just like she had done to one of them.

IF being the key word here.

Kneeling beneath the Scythes, Noire's eyes flashed. "Hah!" she yelled as she activated her ZANDATSU once again while twisting into a 360 degree rapid sweep kick, having attached her HF Blade to her foot. This served the purpose of tripping the two Demons up and knocking them into the air, which allowed her to flip up after them and slice them apart before they could even hit the ground. ZANDATSU deactivated right afterwards, as Noire quickly flipped forwards and stabbed her HF Blade into the head of a fourth Demon before it could slash her, flipping off it and gripping the weapon in her right hand before she could land on the ground.

Sensing danger behind her, Noire hopped sideways in order to avoid another Slash, and as she did so the blackette noticed cracks emerging from the space she'd be landing at. Instantly, she reacted by summoning Raijin and connecting it's tail to her Brain. This allowed it to coat her arms (HF Blade included) in Lightning which she used in a series of lighting fast strikes towards these cracks. Served a good purpose, cause the moments those cracks shattered, more Demons akin to the ones which she'd killed already burst into existence, only to have their lives cut short by her electrified blade.

Noire didn't feel like she was out of this yet, as she swiftly ducked under a swing which could have chopped her head off, before she twisted to the source and swung her HF Blade towards it. The cause: one of those Scythe wielding Demons,, swiftly raised its weapon and successfully blocked the attack, causing it to stumble backwards a few steps though. 'Tch!' Noire thought. 'Looks like they can endure a bit of punishment then... no matter!' she thought as she simply swung her Sword towards the ground, sending the Vibrations from the strike through the floor and towards her opponent. This resulted in the Demon stumbling about t the unseen attack, causing it to lose its balance.

That allowed her to swiftly decapitate it in one fell swoop.

'I get the feeling that the end is near...'

_…I wouldn't bet on that just yet, Noire..._

Twisting around on Siegfried's urging, Noire scowled when she saw more cracks appearing around her office, which meant more Demons were coming her way. She couldn't use any of her larger area attacks for fear of destroying her Basilicom, which meant she had to fight solely on sword technique alone. 'Well, the Sword Mistress Style was exactly made for this scenario, so not all hope is lost. Plus I have good control over Raijin right now...' She thought to herself, feeling the urge to kill come from the gauntlet as she got into her fighting stance.

Even so, a challenging smirk appeared on her lips, a smirk reserved for those who fought like gladiators in the arena for the sake of their own survival. 'Well then, since these guys have gone to so much trouble just to see me, I'll see if they can measure up to my standards...' she thought in pride, getting ready for the next bout.

Just as she did, Noire found herself getting swarmed on all sides by these Demons...

Leading to one HELL of a fight for survival.

**(OST End)**

* * *

**Chapter end!**

**Finally, the main storyline has begun! Noire received an unexpected guest late at night after finishing her work for the day, and the next thing she knows she's being attacked by Demons. If anyone guesses what this story is based on, let me know in the reviews or PMs. Still, believe me when I say that it won't be COMPLETELY like the game I'm inspired by since some scenes won't work here so I'll have to change or delete them, but the core plot should be mostly the same. The man who visited her should also be a good clue, and to those who guessed it right I'm PRETTY sure you now what's coming. **

**Anyways, read, review and follow... and as always, peace out!**


	7. Chapter 7 - A Tower Emerges

**Chapter 7 - A Tower Emerges**

"Ahhhh… the Wind sure is nice today…"

The cold winds brushed gently through her face, making the an-coloured summer hat atop her head rustle in its embrace. The breeze almost whisked it away from her head, had she not put her hand on top of it to keep it in place. Even so, however, this didn't stop her mass of blonde luscious wavy locks from being blown in the direction of the wind, though she didn't really mind as she strode along a country path. Her lips were curved in a soft, melancholic smile of nostalgia, eyes closed in bliss as she took in the countryside's atmosphere.

Not only this, but the warmth of the summer sun bore itself down on her, illuminating her form like she were a movie star up on a stage in front of an adoring audience. Their rays came down and showered her with their warmth, shielding her against the cold that the breeze had brought onto her bare skin. Well, what skin was exposed thanks to her apparel, which consisted of a nice, plain white sun dress which went down to her knees, accompanied by a matching set of heels. The dress's skirt fluttered in the breeze alongside her blonde locks, making no small amount of flapping sounds whilst not revealing too much of her legs as she strode along the country path. Her heels made crunching sounds every step she took, yet this didn't bother her, not one bit as she made her way to her destination.

Sounds of nature prospered all around her, as she could hear the gentle rustling of the grass around her, with the sight of some small butterflies and other beautiful insects fluttering about doing their daily routines, perfectly completing this natural piece of nature. A piece which, thanks to her own appearance, painted the picture of a beautiful and pure princess, just going out for a stroll and enjoying the warmth of the summer sun. Any man who saw this scene right now, well… lets just say they wouldn't be able to control themselves in front of such beauty as hers…

She wasn't bluffing, either.

All these elements didn't bother her in the slightest not one bit. In actuality, it really relieved her, seeing such a scene laid out before her very eyes. Eyes which opened up to reveal their deep, dark yet sad-looking blue glimmer, as if they were two dark oceans calmly swaying in accordance with the nature themselves. However, these two orbs soon turned tired and weary, a kind of fatigue only old and hardened generals who'd fought in way too many conflicts could possess. Eyes which a woman like her did NOT deserve to have, especially since she looked to be barely in her early 20's, when in actuality she was much, MUCH older. Possibly older than all the humans on this continent put together and then some, though she would never let anyone bring up such a topic without the threat of their reputations being shattered into nothingness.

Still, that was a different issue altogether, as her surroundings soon caused her expression to shift back to her original one, something which she could honestly be happy to say she felt IMMENSELY grateful for. Seeing something like this soothed the combat-worn soul which lay within her being, the weariness she had let from all these countless battles she had fought in over the last few weeks.

'Still, it appears that changing my clothes into something less 'grand' has succeeded in hiding my identity… even with these reading glasses I have on my face helps give off this bookworm feel to me…'

She couldn't help but smile at the thought, raising her right hand which gently caressed the eyeglasses over her eyes. She had once been worried that her disguise might be blown by some random perv who would stare lecherously at her… well, watermelons (you boys all know what I mean), but thankfully those fears were unfounded. Part of hr had been surprised nobody had made a move on her during this time, but she didn't look a gift horse in the mouth, as it allowed her to go on this training trip in peace. That didn't mean she didn't check in on her people from time to time, as some of her closest comrades were able to keep her informed of the things at hand within her beloved Nation.

As a Leader, she had failed in protecting her people, not to mention she had failed in defending her pride as a warrior. Just THINKING about what had happened back then was enough to make her consider going on a rampage through dozens of Chaos controlled territories, all in one day. Worse still, was that she had to rely on her comrades, especially her dear Iffy and Nicky, to pull through, which only added to her humiliation. She didn't mind being helped like that, that wasn't what got to her, the main problem was that she felt less like a warrior and more like a freaking damsel in distress. And boy was she the exact OPPOSITE of that! Thus, it had led her to going on this training tip when the most important bulk of the politics had been settled and her staff would have been easily enough to handle the rest. Though, she'd made sure the proper decisions could only have been made by those she had trusted, such as her eternally loyal Oracle, so her Nation didn't decline any more than it had been previously. Things had been FINALLY starting to look up for Leanbox, she didn't want to change that!

Just as she thought these thoughts, a low rumble sounded off within her, coming from the depths of her very soul. That low rumble soon got followed by a warm and hot feeling, similar to the warmth of the sun rays beaming down on her right now. She couldn't help but smile fondly as she felt IT soothing her worries, helping her with her emotional turmoil. 'If this is what having a sentient weapon as a Partner is like… then I'm only wishing I could have gained this chance sooner…' she thought to herself, thinking back to when it had all begun…

She soon shook her head, stopping such thoughts before they could distract her from her next destination. According to rumours she had overheard in a Tavern (she'd put a hooded cloak over herself for a greater sense of stealth, men in those places tended to be like the 'bad' kind of ruffians , not the ones she was used to in her BL Games), there was one Leanbox Town which had been mostly isolated from the rest of the Nation thanks to its geographic layout. Apparently, this village hadn't been touched by the forces of Chaos there yet, but they indeed had this powerful 'cult' there, a cult which excelled in producing warriors on the same level as Spec Ops Agents. Unfortunately, due to their isolation, much about them was a mystery even to the Basilicom as they only received the annual taxes from the village and not much else, due to the difficulty of transportation.

'If I find this Village, then perhaps I can meld with the citizens there, and perhaps learn more about how it works in the condition it's in… Maybe I'll even find the rest of them there, whilst also furthering my training…'

Thoughts like these filled her mind, as well as promoting a sense of eager excitement within her chest like a blossoming flower. The thought of getting stronger in order to 'express' her 'gratitude' for their last bout felt VERY appealing to her, almost like the level of attraction moths have to bight lights… with a bit less danger involved. Still, she didn't let that stop her as she continued on her trek, letting the gentle atmosphere sooth her troubled mind all the while. 'It would be nice if I could learn how the others have been doing… Nicky, Neptune, Iffy, Noire… the last one especially. Noire… I wonder what your up to right now…'

"Haa…Haaaa….Haaaaaaa…!"

Heavy breaths left her lips as Noire kneeled like a knight, sweat dripping from her brows as her stamina felt practically exhausted. Noire gasped and heaved to regain as much needed air as her human form's lungs could allow at the moment, her hands resting on the hilt of her weapon, the HF Blade, which had been impaled into the ground before her and now served as a support pillar. Her Twintails had come undone, letting her black hair fall down her back in a wild, messy and untamed fashion, much to her inner frustration. Though, with her current condition, she could hardly find the strength to complain about her hair, plus nobody was around to witness her in this state, which somewhat mitigated these effects. In addition, her body looked to have cuts and tears all over the place, some deeper than others whilst it also sported no small number of bruises. Most of them could be healed over with a bit of rest and a few healing items (she was no Nico who had absurdly monstrous regeneration capabilities), but that honestly wasn't on the forefront of her mind in these current times.

What was, you ask?

Well… She had her attention focused on the pretty much desecrated room she had once called her office. It looked as if a hurricane had blown through it, which considering the amount of Demons she had been slaying for the last hour or so wouldn't be a bad description of the previous events. There were papers all over the place, scattered and shredded to pieces thanks to the swinging of blades and the slashing of claws and fangs. Documents which had been pretty much the communication between herself and her staff to run the Nation, had been reduced to this state thanks to the invading Demons. Not only this though, but the walls, floor, ceiling, everywhere she looked Noire could see the dozens of slash marks, craters, cracks and other signs of destruction all over. It almost resembled a war-torn battlefield, the only thing separating it being the act that there weren't any corpses remaining, thanks to the Demons vanishing like any other Monster.

"100… waves… 100 waves of those things… came to kill me without rest or reprieve…" Noire mumbled under her breath as she got her composure back, slowly getting to her feet as she took in the destruction of her Office. Her teeth gnashed together as a vicious light escaped her eyes. For the last hour or so, Noire had been assaulted by more Demons than she could have ever expected. These Demons may not have been very strong, as they had consisted of those black skeletal scythe wielders, as well as dozens of other Demon types which she couldn't recall due to the bloody haze her mind had been in, but one thing had been for certain. There had been a LOT of them, as if they relied solely on their numbers to gang up on and overwhelm their opponent. Considering how Noire couldn't use many of her more devastating attacks on them without destroying her Basilicom… as well as the entire City, it left her with one heck of an annoying time. For all that time, she had even wondered if there would have ever been an end to these attacks, as each wave carried more Demons than the last.

_… Hmm, this seems like less of an 'invitation' and more like a 'challenge' from this supposed master… _

When she heard that from her Heroic Spirit, Noire nodded her head in agreement Thinking back on the previous experience, she could tell that the word invitation that scholar had used, had been merely a formality to disguise what its true identity was a call to challenge… her. It reminded her of an older Leanbox custom where one-on-one duels would be declared to the leaders of the violent tribes, in which land, property or anything of value to them could be claimed by the other should they lose. According to the history books, it was a tradition meant to settle matters of honor, ownership or property, demand of restitution or debt, legal disagreement or intention to help a wife (though considering the lack of respect towards women in that era, this one barely cropped up beyond 3 times in their history) or relative or avenge a friend.

To her, this felt exactly like one of those, and it… well, it ticked her off. It ticked her off a LOT, and even that felt like an understatement. 'Whoever this asshole is, he's so going to get it when I get my hands on him… hmph, fine then. If he wants to challenge me…' she thought while stepping towards the Door leading out of her office… all the while decapitating a Demon which had tried to sneak behind her for a stealth attack, without even looking at it that is. Her eyes shined with a crimson light as her steps carried a SLIGHTLY stronger force to them that they normally would. 'Then I'll give him one.'

_…Just do not forget, Noire, that you still have to make sure there weren't others caught up in this incident. I may not have sensed any Demonic presences outside your office during that bout, but you can never be too careful…_

"I know Siegfried, I know…" Noire commented in a hushed tone, her emotional state making it come off as more agitated than calming, which only worried the Heroic Spirit more. Through his tutelage, Noire had gotten quite the amount of insight in how to be a better leader, though she still retained some worrisome traits in the older King's eyes. Her response only made him worry that despite her intentions, Noire would end up making a mistake which would cause her to eventually sink back into the dark hole where she once lay, back when she first returned to Lastation. Even so, he didn't bother commenting on this, as thanks to his connection to her, Siegfried became aware of how split her mental focus had become thanks to his previous words. Her grudge against this supposed 'master' as well as concern for her people.

He just hoped things would work out…

* * *

After she'd left the Office, Noire had made her way across the corridors towards the Basilicom's elevator. She didn't want to waste time with the nearby staircase, as she wanted to get to this person as soon as possible, but she ALSO didn't want to damage her home any more than necessary. Plus, if anyone saw her rushing out of her office, transformed and fast, it might end up causing panic for them, not something Noire wanted to risk. Thus, she had resorted to the optimal choice right now, her Elevator which had some decent functionality based off her prior experiences.

Exiting the elevator to find herself on the Basilicom's ground floor, Noire stepped out and walked with a brisk pace towards the exit to the outside leading to SONY. Her arms swung back and forth whilst she practically stormed her way to her destination, looking like an enraged spirit intent on exacting vengeance against those who had wronged her. She wanted to get to this guy as fast as possible, and because of this Noire had neglected to wonder how she would find this guy exactly, she'd never gotten that far ahead in her planning. Normally, this wouldn't have been her usual mind set, but with how furious she felt towards this mystery master, she didn't exactly have the right mind.

It didn't take her long for her to find herself in the main area where she had heard how once Neptune and her party had entered way back when, only to be driven away by Avenir's lackeys. Seeing the pristine condition of the area didn't calm the storm which raged inside Noire's heart right now, if anything it only increased her urgency to get out of the Basilicom as soon as possible. Part of her did wonder though, wonder about the lack of Demon attacks on her person during her trip towards this point. According to past experiences, whenever she had encountered Demons they would usually come at her in waves, one after another like someone constantly being stopped by annoying civilians for mindless chit chat. However, since the attack in her Office, Noire never saw one SINGLE trace of Demonic Power. Not one bit, and thus if she were in a more composed mindset she would have been concerned over this.

Whilst she walked towards the entrance to the Basilicom however, Noire blinked to herself, pausing her stride. Was it just her, or was there something… different about the Basilicom right now? Slowing her pacing to look around the area, Noire began to notice how silent the place was, something which she didn't have as much experience with since she would be asleep during this time… or working (Siegfried almost curb stomped her when she tried to pull an all-nighter pointlessly). Unlike the morning when things were bustling, the Basilicom almost seemed like it was devoid of anything to do with life. I resembled… a graveyard, something which made her think of a certain purple haired man who called out 'edict of death!' which caused tremors to go down her spine. For that same reason, the silence she felt gave her an eerie feeling of dread, heck it practically felt goddess damn suffocating in here, which made her all the more excited for getting out.

If she thought THAT would be bad, then what happened next pretty much smashed those feelings to nothingness. Her nose twitched a little which prompted her to pause her little 'tantrum'. 'What the…? What is this smell…?' she wondered, sniffing the air around her when she smelled a rather… peculiar scent. Her brows furrowed as she released a grimace seconds later though, and not due to how the scent revolted her. 'Ugh, smelling something like this makes me look like an animal… but even so, this smell seems quite familiar…' she thought further. Thanks to her dozens of months fighting Abnormals and Demons, Noire had indeed become well-versed with a variety of things, one of which being to utilize each of her senses to the absolute limit. She had to, otherwise she may have been sent to an early grave through one of MANY ambushes set up by her many enemies.

This confusion, however, didn't last all that long. Not when she had been so accustomed to such a scent through all the countless battles Noire had fought to preserve her life and that of her Nation. This scent… it had that metallic tinge to it, with an intensity which could only mean the source was nearby. Noire knew what this scent was…

The scent…

Was one of blood.

'Blood! That's what I'm smelling right now!' Almost instantly her mind rang its alarms like fire stations when they hear of large fires, all thoughts about challenging this monster having vanished from the blackette's mind. Her back became the host to an assortment of shudders and tremors, whilst her face began growing paler as seconds ticked by.

DRIP

DRIP

DRIP

DRIP

The sound of a liquid dripping filled her ears, nearly making her heart jumping through the confines of her chest. Not only that, but it also caused all her previously mentioned emotions, the sensations coursing through her body and everything else which had links to negative emotions to swell dangerously. It reminded her of a few cases she had looked up, cases where those who were scared of the dark got instantly locked in a dark room by their bullies before they could even comprehend what had happened. If one were to look at Noire's face right now, they'd call her one of those victims in a horror movie.

In an attempt to find out what had happened, although a big portion of her didn't want to as blood in her Basilicom could only mean a number of things, Noire quickly shifted her head so she could locate the source. It didn't take her long to do this, as her eyes fell onto one of the walls, close to the Basilicom's rear left corner… and that's when she saw it: a Corpse…

A woman's corpse.

The corpse, according to the signs she saw, looked to indicate that it was a recent kill. The Corpse looked to have been a woman in her mid to late 20's, with short brown hair which was stained with thick, crimson blood as well as grey brain matter. Her eyes, which remained open, had no signs of life to them anymore, yet even so it seemed like they had been FROZEN into a look of extreme pain, terror, fear, helplessness and despair. Her features looked to have been part of wat had once been a pretty lady for her age, but thanks to the small claw marks dotting around her cheeks while the jaw seemed to have been forcefully YANKED off like someone tugging something out a gap in a wall. The corpse lacked half a right arm, its left had pieces of it torn clean off in what looked to have been a horrendously brutal fashion if the state the holes were in could be any indication. The same thing could be said about the legs… or what was left of them, since they looked to have been mangled to the point where it would have been next to impossible to even identify them as limbs in the first place.

Faster than she could realize it, Noire jogged over to the corpse and kneeled before it, ragged gasps escaping her lips as she forced back the bile which rose in her throat. Whatever did this to this poor soul had to have done it recently, she theorized as she looked at how shredded and damaged it was, even though she felt her fury quickly resurfacing. Looking the woman's corpse up and down, the blackette concluded this woman's identity by spotting the remains of a badge where the right breast would have been located. It was the same receptionist of which she had talked to before that man had arrived in her office, which made her internal sadness swell even more. Seeing something like this, it made her realize that if she hadn't stayed as late as she had, then perhaps she would have lived a better life, especially when she looked into that expression on what remained of her face. Noire could just IMAGINE her crying tears of blood, screams erupting from her hoarse throat as she begged her assailant to stop…

FLASH!

* * *

A woman was prepping to leave her post after informing the man where the goddess lay…

She wanted to get back home to her fiancé, to hold him in her arms and perhaps spend some quality time with him, cuddling or going on a date…

Her job had been taxing hr recently, but she didn't mind since the Goddess she served put in much more effort into her role than she could ever imagine…

GROWL…

What? A noise?

For that one moment, the woman frowned in confusion after packing the last of her belongings.

What was that?

It sounded like it was an animal, but where? She recalled one of her colleagues having lost a pet mouse somewhere but had to leave for business. The colleague did leave a message to look out for it, and if found to take care of it till their return…

But for some reason that didn't feel quite right.

Just as she made to leave…

They came.

They came faster than she could have ever reacted, ripping through space itself like it was nothing but an annoyance to them.

She tried to scream, she tried to run, she tried to do ANYTHING with her body, but her mortal coil remained paralyzed by fear…

They descended upon her like hungry wolves…

And the screams (muffled by their claws until they tore her jaw off) began…

* * *

FLASH

"#GASP#!"

A sharp inhale escaped Noire's lips when Noire had felt a massive headache spike through her mind, causing her to grip her head. All the while, her mind's eye remained VERY active, when it saw a series of images she was SURE she hadn't been there to witness, flowing through her brain like distorted fragments of a glass mirror. The blackette groaned and cursed under her breath whilst the headache died down, the images vanishing once they were done showing her their contents: the woman's last moments before her death. 'Ugh…! This sensation…!'

Yeah, she recalled this feeling. This feeling she got before she would get visions of what could only have been events which had happened in the past. Honestly though, Noire wasn't 100% sure on that, but what she could say for certain was that ever since she had bonded with Balmung and Siegfried, she'd occasionally have visions like these. Visions which showed her things which had already happened in the past, she had confirmed this when some of the visions even showed her some past events which Neptune and Co had went through, such as the moment when they first fought a Ghoul in Leanbox. She'd confirmed it by asking IF one time, if anyone was interested to know. However, the frequency of these happenings wasn't really that large, thus she never really remembered to investigate them.

Still, what they had shown her had been QUITE informative. It showed her not only the last few moments the receptionist spent in the living world, but it also showed her that she had been killed… by Demons. Something which pissed her off immensely since it had been done around the time she had been beset by Demons herself, leaving her unable to do anything to save her. Thus, there had been only one thing she could do. 'Don't fret any longer, departed soul…' Noire muttered inside her mind, lowering her head and reaching out, placing her hand over the woman's eyes and closing them as to make her look even moderately more peaceful. 'I'll make sure to give you the vengeance you so deserve. Your death won't be in vain nor will it be forgotten.'

* * *

With that, Noire stayed there for at least 10 minutes, mourning the death of the receptionist. She may not have known her, practically a total stranger. However, Noire saw herself as a Goddess for the people, so whenever she saw her own having been ripped apart before her, how could she not feel anything but failure? Well, in this case, the resolve to see this through accompanied the sense of failure, which had caused her eyes to harden whilst she stood up, twirled on her silver heels, and strode towards the entrance…

Her mind, once vengeful and rage-filled, now had a cold, sharp and calm rage burning through it. Like her orangish flames had become calm blue flames which gave her a sense of purpose or direction.

As she entered the outside courtyard, Noire immediately became aware of her surroundings. She saw how the streets surrounding her Basilicom looked to have been absolutely WRECKED, with vehicles tossed onto their sides/backs (some even in pieces), buildings having been damaged severely but not impossible to rebuild though it would cost a hefty amount of funds, and lastly but most worrisome there were no signs of life anywhere, not a single one. It was like a hurricane had blown through the streets while Noire had remained unaware, causing untold devastation in its wake.

'Okay, WHAT the hell have I been missing? I should probably find any survivors, maybe even locate the military-'

_…I believe that won't be necessary, perhaps even pointless, at this point…_

Just before she could do anything however, Siegfried's voice spoke up, halting her thoughts. She had even begun striding again, but paused thanks to this Heroic Spirit. 'Huh? What do you mean? We HAVE to find out what's going on here, the people are in-'

_...No danger. Everyone, everyone inside this entire city have been knocked unconscious. No, it would be more accurate to say that they have been placed into a comatose state, similar to being under an illusion. I can tell because of the energies I sense in the air. You should be able to sense it now, since we have been training together for some time…_

Noire blinked, momentarily caught off guard by Siegfried's words. That is, until a second or two later when she did what he said and opened up her senses, feeling the atmosphere around her. Thus, true to his words, Noire DID sense something in the air around them, something which she had not been accustomed to feeling while on Lastation. 'This feeling… its just like back in the Gala when MAGES. used that spell to isolate the Basilicom, or Compa whenever she used her Spirit Powers! This feeling is Mana!' she realized, which got followed by the knowledge that a spell had been cast over the city.

_…Hmmm… Judging by this Mana I'm sensing, whoever it is that cast this spell will likely have the assistance of a Heroic Spirit of sorts. A Caster-type if I'm not mistaken. They generally specialize in ranged magics and other variants of it anyways according to my past experiences. Though, which one I cannot say due to how dispersed the Mana is. However, what I CAN deduce, is that this person this Heroic Spirit is helping is likely under the command of this 'Master' that scholar told us about…_

Oh yeah, Casters… Noire recalled that term once before, when they had been talking about Heroic Spirits. Each of them were put in their own categories based off their own abilities, similar to their Noble Phantasms: the three knight classes, **Saber** (agile and powerful melee warriors adept at swordsmanship), **Archer**, and (possessing powerful Noble Phantasms, are able to act as highly effective scouts, and special abilities related to projectile weapons) **Lancer** (agile, display excellent close combat skills, show proficiency in hit-and-run tactics that capitalize on range and speed, and are skilled with long-range melee weapons such as spears and lances), with there being the four cavalry classes known as **Rider** (known for riding mounts, whether living beasts or human constructs, during their lives), **Caster** (adept in magic, to the point of mastery of sorceries of the highest caliber compared to the specific requirements of the other classes), **Assassin** (skilled at operating covertly, stealthy, and silently) and **Berserker** (Heroic Spirits who have gone berserk during battle at least once in their lifetime. This trait allows them to use the special ability Mad Enhancement, which trades their consciousness and sanity for a large power boost).

'Yeah, I get that feeling as well…' Noire stated mentally, nodding her head in agreement as she calmed herself down and forced her mind to process things logically. All the while, she readily got her HF Blade out and kept it at her side, knowing that thanks to this illusion on the city, she may be attacked at any moment. 'This 'Master' obviously wants only me to come to him, but since I'm in my Nation's Capital, he needed to make sure no human interferes with his business. It also gives those Demons free reign to wander about my Capital like they goddess darn own the place, like I wouldn't even notice these bugs in my own home! Still, I'll give him this, he's benevolent in his own way… if that's what it is, anyways.'

_…Still, I am worried about this illusion. I hope that it does not have any other effects that we are unable to verify right now. No matter, we must track the Mana to its source, which unfortunately means-…_

Before Siegfried's words could be finished, Noire's eyes widened as a yelp escaped her lips, cutting him off. The reason why she yelped? Whelp, thank the sudden swinging of a large, glowing purple blade which, if it had been allowed to connect, would have sliced Noire's head clean off through the base of her neck as easily as one would breathe air. The blackette quickly rolled across the ground several times, using the momentum to stand up albeit with her legs bent and one hand on the ground beneath her as she slid to a halt. When she did so, the blackette heaved and panted heavily, her heart racing wildly through her chest for a moment before she forced it to steady itself. 'Phew… that was close!' Noire thought as she raised her head. 'If that had been any sooner... Alright, now let's see who it is who tried to slash me like that!'

**(Play OST – DMC 3 Battle Music 1)**

Her eyes soon caught sight of the one responsible for her near-death experience just now, and instantly she began analysing it with scrutiny whilst readying her HF Blade. Standing atop a pile of fallen rubble, stood what could only be described as a demonic personification of the fictional god of death itself. The one in the books, not Mundus, Noire had to enforce to herself so the author and readers could tell the difference. The Demon wore a black, hooded cloak which appeared to be made from a mix of both leather and black smoke, its head that of a groaning human skull. It had two long skeleton legs, as well as two long bony arms coming out of its sides, which ended in clawed bone-made hands. These hands held the weapon which had almost claimed her life just now: a Scythe, but unlike the ones which those other Demons had, this one looked to be made from this orangish crimson Demonic Energy, as well as sported a few spikes on both the tip as well as the rear side of the tip, resembling the top and side of a cross.

Seeing that its initial attack had failed, the Skeleton Demon howled in anger and glee, giving Noire the impression that it wanted to enjoy the 'hunt' for its 'prey' a while longer before finishing the job. 'Hmph, like I'd let that happen. I'll show you just whose the hunter and whose REALLY being hunted…' she thought to herself, holding her HF Blade at the ready before quickly going on the offensive. She activated her ZANDATSU, slowing her time perception down while swinging about 6 times diagonally… which ended up creating 6 VACCUUM SLASHES in front of her. By the time that the ZANDATSU effect vanished, each VACCUUM SLASH got launched towards the Demon at high speeds, speeds which would surpass modern bullets.

Unfortunately for her though, Noire didn't know anything about the Demon, especially its apparent ability to Teleport as it practically vanished from the battlefield, causing her strikes to miss their marks. 'What?! It vanished!' she cried, quickly getting into the Sword Mistress Style's defensive stance whilst cautiously stepping around in case of any surprise attacks. She would NOT let her guard down, especially since her instincts told her she wasn't out of the woods just yet, plus experience told her Demons did not flee from the battlefield. They fought to the death instead.

A Purple glow appeared in the bottom of her vision, causing Noire to look down to see a portal forming beneath her feet. Quickly with the use of ZANDATSU, the blackette managed to jump back in time, a good thing since even after she jumped during her skill's effect, Noire saw how the creature shot through the portal at speeds in which stunned her. It had been like the creature hadn't been slowed down at all from her time perception being altered, which did NOT sit well with her. 'I see… so this guy's still got the speed even with ZANDATSU, huh…? Guess this thing isn't like the previous Demons then. Like that teleporting ability wasn't enough proof…!'

Seeing the Demon already approaching her for a diagonal slash to her right shoulder blade, Noire raised her HF Blade and swiftly blocked it, the two weapons bouncing away from each other whilst the Demon continued its assault, slashing from different angles at a time. Noire blocked and parried what she could, whilst those she couldn't she evaded, one such slash being a horizontal one which she jumped onto with the help of her ZANDATSU, then bounced over her opponent to land behind it, reverse swinging her blade towards the creature's hood.

However, at the last second the Demon vanished once again, causing her sword to slash through nothing but air. 'That Teleporting again! I guess it can do that whenever it wants, then huh?!' she thought in annoyance, quickly back flipping in order to avoid a horizonal slash which came from behind her. Obviously, this meant to her that it had appeared through its portal behind her for a rear ambush, but sadly for it Noire would NOT go down from something like that. Heck, in mid-air, she twirled a full 360 degrees whilst launching one big VACCUUM SLASH, resulting in a 360-degree wave of air pressure which sent the Demon crashing into the ground before sliding through it, creating a small fissure in its wake.

'This guy…! I have to get to where the source of this Mana is, see if I can find this 'Master'! Maybe I can… no! I can do this myself; I know I can!'

She didn't want to ask Siegfried for any help right now, as much as part of her wanted to, as it would be relying on him. Whilst relying on others wasn't necessarily a bad thing, doing it too much could become more problematic, creating issues rather than solving them. This was something Siegfried had taught her, though he didn't have to do much since she had already understood this principle herself through life's trials. As such, she quickly began analysing her opponent's movements whilst they charged at one another, entering a slash fest with dozens of clanging sounds ringing around them.

SLASH- SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH- SLASH- SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH- SLASH- SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH- SLASH- SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH!

'Alright Noire, think! You've been looking at this guy's movements for a good while now, so you should be able to grasp something about them!' Noire chastised herself mentally. 'Okay, lets see… Judging by these swings, this Demon has some skill in the art of wielding a Scythe. It's strong, has good striking speed, but its primarily close-combat oriented since it hasn't used any ranged attacks. To compensate for this, it has the ability to fly and Teleport around, making it difficult to truly land a killing blow. Oh yeah, now that I think about it, during our fight, whenever this guy teleports around, he doesn't seem to be able to do it right away. I can estimate that it at least takes a couple seconds of 'recharge time' before the ability can be used again. I can prove this by looking at how its used, as while this Demon can seemingly teleport anywhere within the battlefield, it can't chain those instances in rapid succession like when I chained my skills with the others when we fought that Abnormal Avenir requested us to kill. In that case, then…'

Noire smirked to herself as she found herself coming up with a plan. 'This'll work!' she thought whilst bending backwards to avoid a side slash, before hopping back to avoid the following downward slash. She then raised her HF Blade in an upward slash when the Demon had closed in on her via Teleporting, aiming to slice her right in half. Before, the Demon had growled in annoyance, fury burning within its sockets at seeing how little the Demon's prey feared it, which became a slight against its sadistic personality. Thus, seeing what it could have only perceived as an opening, the Demon had gleefully screeched as it dove in for the kill, and if it could it would have drooled at the fantasy of seeing the prey's blood explode. This ended up with both blades meeting like two shockwaves and bouncing off one another with equal force. However, thanks to the balance difference between the two, the Demon's stance faltered.

'There!'

SLASH!

"GUUUUUUOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHH!"

Seeing her chance, Noire quickly widened her stance, activating her ZANDATSU, the blackette slowed her time perception enough to recover properly, dash in close and swing her HF Blade. The blade swung true, slicing through the air like swiss cheese as it sailed towards the creature's head, intending to decapitate it. However, just at the last SECOND, did the Demon howl as it barely managed to bent its head back in time, moving into a multi back flip before jumping into the air. The Demon howled once more, glaring vehemently towards Noire who returned the glare with her own, before it began flying away.

**(OST End)**

'Darn! So close!' Noire screeched within her mind, throwing her arms down in frustration. A matching shout escaped her lips as she stomped her foot repeatedly on the ground whilst she bit her upper lip enough to make it bleed, angry tears brimming in the corners of her eyes. 'So! Darn! Close! I had him! I really had him at that point! That thing just HAD to just recover in the nick time! Does the deity of luck hate me or something?!' she exclaimed mentally whilst ranting like a fangirl frustrated that her crush ignored her.

_…Calm yourself, Noire. There's little need to be so frustrated over a single Demon, especially a Lesser Demon like this one…_

Siegfried spoke once more now that the battle was over, in order to pacify the angry Goddess. However, hearing that the Demon she'd faced was one of the weaker ones… well, it insulted her pride all the more. 'You're SERIOUS?! A weakling?! Goddess darnit, this is humiliating…!' she screeched in her mind… this rant continuing for a good 3 minutes.

* * *

Once she calmed down however, Noire blushed in embarrassment as she thought it over, and realized that Siegfried had a point. Getting annoyed that a single Lesser Demon had escape, wasn't exactly something which could be worth getting so upset about. It wasn't like getting so close to killing Ganache or destroying Avenir only for them to escape just at the last second and hide under some political red tape. 'You... your right, sorry. Got a bit emotional there...' the blackette commented whilst nervously laughing.

_…a 'little' is an understatement, however we have more pressing issues to discuss. Like how we should have went after that Demon since its obviously like the other ones, and as such will have been able to lead us to the 'Master'..._

'Ugh!' Noire winced, placing a hand over her heart which had an imaginary arrow with the kanji for 'idiot' impaling her there. 'D-Darnit… well, you have a point. Still, its a minor setback at best, we can still trace this power back to its source, but it'll likely be a while till we get any progress...' She thought, dismissing her HF Blade whilst huffing and looking around. This allowed her to remember how her hair had still been let loose, flowing around her in a wild, untamable fashion since that office fight. 'Oh yeah... ugh, this is going to be a pain, there's a reason why I tie up my hair into twintails! I don't get how Raven is able to keep her hair the way she does without it getting in the way of her fighting...' she thought to herself, running a hand over her abyssal-black locks. Worse, she couldn't do her twintails again as her ribbons had been destroyed... and she did NOT want to try stealing a new pair from the nearest clothes shop, that would ruin her pride as a Goddess!

_…You could just cut it short, not like it'd help during a fight..._

...

...

...

...

What followed was almost a universal silence, not even a pin dropping would have been heard. To any young men out there, when encountering a woman who takes great pride in her appearance, and is rantin abouthow her looks have been threatened recently: the top 3 things NOT to do are as follows:

A - Ignore them (especially if they realize your doing it)

B - Wave them off unless you want to be beaten within an inch of your life

C - Make comments which could make the situation worse, something all men seem to universally do these days.

Siegfried just... did the last one, which in the case of Noire, would be pretty much a death sentence.

'Siegfried...' Noire began, hair shadowing her eyes whilst the tone of her thoughts shut the Heroic Spirit up. It was the kin of tone a woman makes which IMMEDIATELY tells the man they've done something wrong, so they should just man up and deal with it. 'I know your a guy so I'll let you off this time, but NEVER tell me to cut my hair like that. A girl's hair's a part of her beauty a girl's overall appearance is important to them!'

_…But-..._

'Plus, aren't you a hypocrite here? You have super long wild hair yet you don't cut that short! Why you telling me to do something when you yourself do the same?'

… At this point, Siegfried wisely chose not to comment. She got him there (insert Neptune making the 'ok' symbol, yelling 'get em!'), and right now he partially thanked his luck that he was already dead. A woman scorned was NOT something any man would want to deal with, especially one whose experienced the throes of marriage. Whilst Noire remained unaware of it, he shuddered at the memories of when his wife (at the time) had once merely broken a nail and a family servant made a passing remark...

Lets just say that didn't end well.

Fortunately for him (and for everyone reading this crappy attempt at humour), a little something began to happen which stopped Noire's rambling.

RUMBLE!

A loud rumbling sound, reminiscent of a shockwave rushing through the very earth itself, erupted into existence and causing the entire continent to tremble. As if the continent was a child who was shivering at the thought of his abusive parents coming back home from two hard days at work. Noire almost lost her balance, as she stood on one foot while exclaiming constantly, flailing her arms about like a lunatic.

'Whoaaaa-whoa-whoa-whoa!'

_...Noire, you must transform! get some height, you'll find out what's going on easier!..._

'R-Right! I-I-I knew that!'

Ever retaining the tsundere traits, Noire answered Siegfried's urgent orders (though she felt a little annoyed at being ordered around, she didn't defy right now since it was meant to help them). Before she could completely lose her balance, Noire managed to hop into the air and transform into her HDD Form... Which allowed her to ascend up above the city to see what it was that was causing the trembling.

Deep in the southern parts of the Capital, Black Heart noticed a large cloud of dirt, one which easily shadowed the rest of the entire city. From that cloud, a tall, ancient-looking tower of stone and metal emerged, rising up and up until its form towered even the smoke cloud that it had generated. It became so big that it may as well have been visible over towards Planetune's SEGA, Leanbox's MICROSOFT, and finally Lowee's Capital. Powerful, ancient arcane energies crackled around its frame, as well as the atmosphere around it whilst the skies above SONY became covered with storm clouds. Clouds which constantly crackled with multiple differently coloured lightning bolts and thunder strikes. That faint Mana Siegfried and her had detected? It immediately got intensified thanks to this Tower's presence, like an army's morale being boosted by the speech of its general.

All the while, Black Heart could only stare in shock, her eyes refusing to process what they were seeing right now. "Wh...What...?"

* * *

Meanwhile. whilst the CPU could only stare in dumbstruck at the structure's appearance (whilst unknowingly feeling offended by how its design pretty much spat on the arcetecture her City sported), a little something took place on top of the tower, something she would NOT be privy to till much later.

Atop the tower, nobody would be able to see it, but there was a figure standing at the rooftop's edge, overlooking the entire view with its piercing gaze. What this figure looked like, nobody would be able to tell, especially thanks to the multi coloured haze which concealed his form from view. A haze which almost seemed to be ever changing, changing in colour, form, texture, nature, becoming fog, mist, darkness, light, perfume, anything within a matter of seconds. It almost looked like the figure had no distinct shape at all, save for those blade-like flaming violet eyes.

Behind this figure, another one approached, slow and ominous steps to give off this feeling of caution, of a looming threat about to explode. However, the figure didn't show any reaction to the source of these steps, just simply stayed where it stood and made no sign of even acknowledging the figure behind him... which soon revealed itself to be the same man whom Noire had been visited by in her office. This was proven by the heterochronic eyes and shifting burn scar over the side of his head.

**"ARKHAM."**

The figure spoke one name, one name with a voice which sounded like it belonged to neither male nor female. Like it had no distinct gender, which made it difficult to tell if it was the everchanging miasma covering the figure doing this, or not. However, the man behind the figure, the scholar called Arkham, didn't look like he minded this at all. In fact, it looked like he hardly gave a care about this, which proved that this man had seen this figure many times before and thus had gotten used to this. "Well? Does it excite you?" the man asked the figure, gesturing to the rooftop around them, although it was clear to both of them that he had been referring to the entire tower. "The Temin-Ni-Gru has been revived. The Great ones who once ruled this world as the mediums between this one, and countless others."

Preaching about the tower whilst eyeing the various gargoyle statues which circled around the rooftop, Arkham's eyes then settled downwards, towards the slumbering Captial of SONY below them. His eyes shined with both appreciation and disgust, yet the former won out as he gestured towards it with one hand. "Isn't it a magnificent view? The greatest minds of their time, those who pursuit the arts of magic and knowledge opposed to the way of martial prowess, constructed this glorious device. Now, after 30 trillion years of confinement..." At this point, the scholar began to get increasingly heated, his whole form starting to radiate an inhuman aura as his eyes gained a dim glow to them. "It can now be finally utilized in the way that it was intended...!"

**"THAT... is NOT... my CONCERN."**

Only a few words, a few words alone, caused the man to regress back to normal as he stepped away slightly. Whilst looking eager still, he at least tempered it when around this figure's presence. After all, there was enough power in this figure's tiny pinky to obliterate him on the spot, and he'd be none the wiser. Power is the dominating factor in the truest sense of the word, anyone who said otherwise would just be considered foolish, weak and cowardly.

**"Does SHE have IT, still?"**

"Of course. She's taking good care of it. After all, she did work hard to gain that piece of the puzzle, and considering who we are discussing, she would not part with it lightly." The man replied, now reverted completely back to his sane demeanour. Not a spec of that inhuman aura remaining.

**"BUT, she HAS yet to GLEAN anything REGARDING its TRUE PURPOSE"**

Once again, the figure spoke in that demonic, genderless tone with multiple voices speaking at once. Just then, a black blur shot up the tower and landed in front of the figure, obstructing its view of the city. Judging by its form, the cries it made etc, it turned out to be the same Demon which Black Heart's human self had been fighting. Although, the figure looked to move away from the edge towards the centre and into the tower... the Demon suddenly stepped forwards before slash marks appeared over its body, resulting in it being hacked to pieces... pieces which fell off the tower's edge and down to the city below, fading into particles all the while.

* * *

However, there was ONE thing which both the figure, as well as Arkham himself, had overlooked. One certain little thing... which would be making its move momentarily.

Down below on one of the streets leading towards the Tower, one could see a long, sleek black military Vulture Bike just standing there, its engine warm and ready to go. The Vulture looked to be all black in colour at first, but upon closer inspection some of its interior had some light greyish silver colouring here and there, signifying it as a Lastation vehicle. Ever since the whole incident with Avenir, these Vulture Bikes have been adopted by the standard military forces, used on raiding missions or sneak attacks due to their lack of proper armour in place of high mobility and speed. Something which the rider atop it, a woman wearing a helmet and a... revealing outfit yet showing signs of being in the military would suggest, could prove if asked.

Not like anyone would considering she was the only human in the city awake now.

'This is not good...' the woman thought, her crimson eyes narrowing darkly as she revved the handles on her Vulture Bike. 'Thanks to my 'friend' I can sense the flow of Mana in the air like I was one of those damned spellcasters in Lowee, there's a HUGE ton of it in the air right now, and its coming from that tower.' she mused mentally, frowning as she remembered the sluggish, weary feeling she'd gotten briefly before it faded away. By the time she had recovered, everyone in the office had succumbed to it, put to sleep like they were infants being put to bed by their mothers. Only she herself had stayed awake, not influenced by the Mana one bit thanks to a little 'outside help' one could say. 'Reports before all this went down indicated that Arkham is there as well... he must be involved in this.' she thought further, her eyes flashing with anger as her fists clenched the handles tighter.

That man...

she hated, HATED that man with every fibre of her being.

Not even that time when she'd fought with the rebellion against the coalition, when she'd met that redhead guy, had she felt so much hatred for someone.

For what he had done to those civilians, to EVERYONE he had hurt up until this point, she had to make him pay for it in blood. There was no room for justice anymore, not for him, she didn't care what any of her slumbering colleagues, subordinates or supervisors believed.

With that in mind, the woman scowled as she floored it, pulling her Vulture bike up for a wheelie as she drove forth down the street. She didn't even notice how she'd pretty much left some approaching Demons in the dust either, not when she had more pressing concerns to deal with...

Concerns she could only deal with herself.

* * *

**Chapter end!**


	8. Chapter 8 - Fight The Ice Dog!

**Chapter 8 - Fight the Ice Dog**

BOOM!

A loud, massive crash sound echoed throughout one of Lastation's… lesser developed residential areas. One could also call it a slum, a place with less development focused on it which gave criminals and other more… nefarious parties a place to do their business, such as conducting it on the black market which spanned across the entire continent. As a result, the place had a slum-like look to it, with toppled vehicles dotting the streets like they were cast aside with yesterday's garbage. Some trash bins had been toppled, letting their contents spew across the sidewalks like an unstable damn finally erupting, all the while the stench of poverty rung rampant through the atmosphere. Then, one would have to consider the desolate-looking buildings which looked to have been partially damaged, like something had ran holes through them, with piles of rubble having formed within the buildings themselves or out onto the streets.

As for the explosion…

The moment that it had occurred, a large tremor got released, easily expanding out towards the rest of the city and going up to 500 miles, demonstrating the strength it had at the point of its birth. Every building within its vicinity trembled like leaves being rustled in the autumn winds, though thanks to their foundations being of superb quality even though they had become a slum-like in nature, the buildings didn't completely collapse. Thank the engineers and construction workers whom had built these buildings for that. The explosion itself though, it released a towering plume of smoke, one which rose to heights which rivalled that of the tower which had emerged from the ground just moments earlier, masking the figure of the one who had caused it. The sounds of falling dirt and debris echoed within the smoke, all the while the cause of it remained unseen.

Fortunately, this didn't last for long as the figure soon stood up from its previous position of lying prone on the ground, soon climbing up what seemed to have been a 8 foot deep crater towards the streets above. The concrete ground beneath it had instantly become cracked and shattered into smaller pieces, pieces which jutted upwards in a dangerous fashion. Some work would need to be done in order to fix the street as well as any plumbing which had been affected underground, but right now the figure couldn't focus on any of that. No, not when it managed to get up onto the streets and swing its right limb, dispersing the smoke and revealing itself as… the human form of the CPU of Lastation, Black Heart AKA Noire. And she did NOT look happy.

'Goddess… damnit! I was so close that time!' she cursed in her mind, looking up and glaring heatedly towards the Tower's looming form ahead. Her eyes shined with hatred and an immense grudge especially with the dark storm clouds which now covered the skies above the City, especially the vague silhouette of something flying like a guardian around the tower's surrounding airspace. That thing had been one of the things which had blocked her path to the Tower when she had been Black Heart, and when she had tried to attack it the creature had simply done… something, and the next thing she'd known Noire had been sent crashing into this area with her HDD Form gone.

Things only got worse from there for her, something she soon discovered. The reason for this mentality to dawn on her, came in the form of when she looked into herself. When she had done so, Noire almost lost her balance as she climbed up, especially when she felt some kind of… weight, the best way she could describe it, on her very being. As a result, when she tried to access her HDD Form, Noire found that it didn't come much to her frustration and anger. 'Looks like I won't be able to fly to that Tower then, if this little setback's taught me anything. Feels like some kind of soul attack…'

Ever since the Gala and meeting with Siegfried, Noire had thrown herself into her research, looking up things related to the soul and what had happened to them back on Halo Mountain. She wanted to know just WHAT exactly these soul attacks had been, as before now she had NEVER even heard of the like. Soon, her Heroic Spirit had intervened when she hadn't gotten any leads in days, explaining how they were an art which stemmed from the time of the DPUs, meaning that any information about them wouldn't be available to her much to Noire's internal frustration. It made her… envious (not like she'd admit that to anyone, idiots!) of people like Nico who had the capacity to understand the demonic tongue, for only they would have access to such knowledge should they come across it.

_…__It looks like a Ward of some kind has been erected around this Tower's vicinity, likely either by that creature or the Caster-class Heroic Spirit. Either way, it looks like activating your HDD Form, which is your current strongest trump card, will be impossible for the current time…_

Siegfried spoke within her mind, breaking her from her thoughts and returning the blackette's perception back to the outside world. Even so though, it was a bittersweet feeling, humiliation and embarrassment exploding within her chest as Noire had to admit that he was right, as much as she hated to admit it. She had reached a similar conclusion in her head after a moment of self-analysis whilst she got out of the crater she'd made and out into the street. After all, since she knew a bit more on soul-related matters thanks to what little Siegfried had been able to recall for her, she knew how dangerous they could be especially to those whose defences proved inept.

Shaking her head, Noire decided to focus on the task at hand, she could ponder her findings about the Demonic world later. Right now, she seemed to be in one of Lastation's residential areas… although, she felt appalled when she saw how terrible a state it had been left in. Why hadn't she known this earlier? Well, a number of reasons, but most of them attributed towards her having WAY too much to do to notice or care about such things. She had even recognized this street, though a damaged sign nearby spoke the street's name: '66 Slum Avenue…

Well, wasn't that an obvious giveaway to this place's true nature?

In any case, Noire only took a few steps until she noticed something ahead of her, and that was the road ahead being blockaded by a huge pile of rubble. A pile consisting of destroyed building parts, debris and dirt. The pile easily reached about a single decker bus in height, and while Noire felt she could clear the way eventually, it would take a goddamn long time for her to do so. Not something she wanted to do since time wasn't something she found herself fond of wasting, especially when something had put her people in danger. 'Looks like I can't go that way…' she thought, frowning as she glanced to the side. This allowed her to take notice of something else which caught her attention.

That something, turned out to be a Bar of sorts. Its entrance took the form of a pair of maroon coloured double doors, clad in a brown frame. It was only like a couple dozen steps if she walked to it, not to mention the Bar itself had an ovular platform above the entrance, with a Neon sign stating the bar's name above it: Bullseye. If she were to rate it, then Noire wouldn't have given it a very high score due to the lack of care put into its form, but perhaps she could do something about that later.

Even so, it seemed like that place could be an ideal place to pass through, as cutting through the back of shops tended to lead people to new areas of the city according to her experiences playing third person action adventure games. Noire DEFINITELY wasn't a gamer on someone like Neptune or Vert's level, but she did play a lot of games when she could. Thanks to these recent events though, she had found her time being taken away from her against her will. Problems were piling up by the droves, leaving her with little time to actually relax.

Not like she would have done so anyways, not with things that were happening right now.

After taking a few steps however, Noire instantly stepped backwards with her eyes sharpening into a blade-like glare. Her hands swiftly moved behind her, summoning and drawing her Balmung before assuming her Sword Mistress Stance. Good thing too, because right after she had stepped back, several… energy-based blue arrows had slammed into the space where she once stood, impaling the ground to the halfway point and creating small gorges. 'An ambush?! Looks like I'll be dealing with those a lot…' Noire thought to herself when she noticed the culprits appear both atop the Bullseye ovular platform, as well as the building opposite it via cracks in the air.

From those cracks, came two… well, Noire could only describe them as six-limbed armoured statues, both of them using 2 leg-like limbs for stability/mobility, while the arms began generating more arrow-like energy bolts. Noire also noticed, amidst the creeped out chills which crawled down her spine, that they each featured one large eye, as well as (upon squinting her eyes to get a better look), many faces with various emotions merged together behind the eye. 'Okay, those things in one word are: ugly.'

_…__Indeed. Looks like they are an archer-type Demon, similar to Archer Class Heroic Spirits in how they use predominantly ranged attacks. It also seems like they aren't alone…_

True to Sigefried's words, Noire saw a couple of those hooded scythe-wielding Skeletons come along, as well as a couple new faces… oh wait, on second thought she only saw ONE new face, there were another type of Demon which Noire now remembered which had taken part in attacking her back in her Office. This type though, wore reddish robes with large, furry collars, exposing their humanoid skulls She remembered them being fast little maggots, which often tried to ambush her from behind, leading her to always keeping herself on guard when around them by keeping every sense on high alert.

As for the new member of the party, Noire eyed it and the first thing which came to mind (even as the red wearing Demons flew at her and swung at her head for a quick decapitation, only for Noire to duck out the way), was 'suicide bomber'. Seriously, it resembled a tall, dark-skinned humanoid kind of Demon (something told her that would be a thing throughout this experience) with abnormally long arms like they had spent a LONG ass time being stretched to the limit. It looked mostly naked (and if this wasn't a Demon but a human, then Noire would have blushed in embarrassment) except for some black bandages and a black, leather-like mask that showed only one eye, as well as the mouth which had been sewn shut. On its back, the Demon carried a giant organic sack, resulting in it hunching over to withstand the weight.

'I don't like that thing #ducks under another Scythe attack and slashes the attacker's arm off#... that sack worries me.'

_…__Do not go near that Demon for the time being, draw the others away and then take care of those Archer types on those platforms…_

Siegfried gave his own advice on the situation, which Noire immediately took to heart. She quickly jumped back when she saw both the red wearing Demons as well as the black ones gathering around her, trying to block her escape routes. However, when she moved the blackette had to spin around like a beyblade to block several Scythe slashes which would have cut into her otherwise, resulting in her activating her FAFNIR ARMOUR in mid air. She then landed on the ground in a crouch, slamming her free hand into the ground with the one holding Balmung thrown to the side before she narrowed her draconian crimson eyes at her opponents. "You want some? Then come get some!" she yelled before bursting forth.

With the speed granted by her current form, even if it wasn't the same as her HDD one, Noire managed to get close to one of the red ones and swing towards its head, which it blocked with it's Scythe. The two entered a short deadlock, before she twisted herself into an upwards side flip when she sensed a couple Scythes swinging diagonally at her back. This resulted in Noire getting on top of the Demon she had once been deadlocked with, so before it could respond to her actions she immediately raised Balmung and swiftly swung in a reverse horizontal slash, taking off its head in one swift moment.

She didn't pause for even a second, especially when 12 energy Arrows had already been launched at her back by those Statues whilst the Demon carrying the sack lumbered over. She then hopped into the ait, back flipping and angling her head so that she wasn't hit by the arrows. However, at the moment of them passing beneath her head, Noire got an idea as she activated her ZANDATSU, slowing the time of the area around her enough so that she could see the energy Arrows clearly. 'Whelp, here goes nothing…!' she thought, twisting in the air as she kicked 2 of the energy Arrows back towards the Statues. She then back flipped, placed her free hand on the ground and sweep kicked the 2 closest Demons (two of those black wearing ones) off their feat.

At that point, time resumed its normal pace as the ZANDATSU deactivated, causing the two Demons to cry out as they fell onto the ground beneath them back first, something which Noire exploited by slicing them in half with the help of her VIBRATION ATTACKS before launching a couple VACUUM SLASHES at the rest of them, easily distracting them long enough for her to move her attention over to the Statues. Said Statues were even about to fire more Arrows at her as evident by their glowing hands.

'Not on my watch they don't!'

With that thought, Noire's mouth released a feral, almost bestial growl thanks to the influence of the Abnormal Blood circulating through her bloodstream right now, as she flared her draconian Wings in order to dash straight forwards, flapping them and ending up instantly closing the distance between herself and the one on the platform opposite to the Bullseye platform. Noire instantly acted before the creature could fire, kneeing it in its sole eye to get it to cry out and stop its energy generation, then grabbed it by the 'head' (or what she thought was its head) and holding it out before the other one. Good thing too, since it had already launched its energy arrows, but instead of piercing her they ended up piercing through the other demonic-based Statue instead.

A feral smirk formed on her lips as the statue vanished into particles, Noire soon following up by tossing Balmung forth like a forward flipping wheel, the sword ending up impaling the other Statue's eye. As it cried out in pain and fell backwards, the blackette hopped down to the ground below, launching a flying kick towards the remaining red-wearing demon's face. This sent it crashing into the ground, and when she saw the three remaining black wearing ones charging at her, Noire summoned her Ashbringer, swiftly launching a JUDGEMENT attack by swinging in a wide, horizontal slash, easily bisecting the three Demons. Whilst they vanished via particles, the blackette swiftly finished off the downed red-wearing Demon by stabbing it in the head.

Now, only the sack Demon and the sole Statue remained, something she felt personally proud of as Noire looked towards the former, watching it stumble towards her whilst groaning like a dying patient in an insane asylum. 'Maybe its because of my current state, but right now my instincts are SCREAMING at me not to get too close to that thing…' she thought, hiding her growing irritation at the creature's noise making.

_…__You DO have the instincts of an Abnormal right now, this irritation your feeling is merely being enhanced by those animalistic instincts…_

'Ah, that makes sense…'

With that short conversation out of the way, Noire swiftly decided to deal with the sack Demon last, as she hopped into the air, flipped about multiple times, before descending upon the Statue like a falcon. She crashed onto it a second later, having flipped forwards to slam the back of her armoured foot into Balmung's hilt (the sword still embedded in its eye), which caused it to go right through the Statue. Said statue made one last cry, resembling a dying bird if she thought about it, before its death came for it. Taking Balmung into her hand while dismissing Ashbringer, Noire turned to look down at the sack Demon as it lumbered towards her… though, it wasn't likely going to get anywhere NEAR her thanks to it being on the ground below her platform.

For a moment, she wondered on how to deal with this thing, before she decided to go ahead and launch a VACUUM SLASH at it from her vantage point. Thus, she did so with a vertical downward slash from Balmung… which immediately proved to be a good choice as well as made her feel grateful about trusting her instincts earlier, as the moment that the sack got cut open, the entire thing suddenly EXPLODED like a bomb, killing the Demon carrying it. In fact, the explosion was so great that the shockwave caused her to cover her eyes as it passed her by, pushing back her hair so it flailed about behind her. 'Whoa! Glad I didn't get near that thing, otherwise I would have taken a nasty hit…' she thought, relief flooding through her system while she returned to her human form, sheathing Balmung onto her back.

_…__I see, so that sack must have contained an explosive chemical which, upon contact with the oxygen outside the sack, causes a violent chemical reaction, leading to that massive explosion. We could use this in the future, should we want to take care of Demons quickly… _

'Yeah, fighting Demons is cool and all, but if I'm in a hurry, which I am right now, a quick solution will be a godsend for me. Anyways, lets continue our way to that Tower, looks like that Bar is the only way for us to go forwards, as the other streets have rubble blocking our way. We'll have to cut through it, and exit out the back, that way we should find ourselves on a path directly leading to it.' Noire thought, getting an agreeing hum from Siegfried as she proceeded to hop down from the Platform she was on, land, then head inside the Bar itself.

* * *

Entering the bar had been a simple experience, and by simple there hadn't been any Demons attacking her. Something which Noire found herself relieved by, but that hadn't lasted since she had immediately found the entrance to the bar, as well as the door she needed to take to the back street, suddenly sealed off by a Demonic Ward according to Siegfried. Thus, she had to figure out a way to break the Wards, which took a short while, and it ended with Noire finding this Wheel-like structure behind a set of jukeboxes. Part of her felt bad by destroying government property to get to it though, but she reasoned to herself that it would be for a good cause. Heck, to her surprise though, the structure immediately… well, reacted in a way to Balmung's energy. It caused her to coin it as a 'damage wheel' due to her having to constantly hit it with the sword until each corner of the wheel got lit up with these red flames. Only then, had the Wards break which allowed her to pass on…

But then, things took a turn… a turn for the RACY if one caught the meaning there.

"WHA-WHA-WHA-WHAT THE HELL?!"

A fierce, shocked and appalled shriek escaped Noire's lips, almost doing a dozen double takes but managing to limit herself to a few, when she found herself staring at what looked to be a strip club instead of the streets she had been expecting. Noire's face became beat red, especially when she looked around and saw all the… stuff, which filled her mind with no small amount of 'suggestive' thoughts. 'What the heck is this garbage?! Why's it even in my Lastation in the first place?! Guards! Guards! Quick, destroy this place, destroy it now!' the blackette thought in panic, losing herself to the point where she forgot that she was alone in the city right now. Heck, her face had lost any of its fair colour from before, becoming cherry red whilst her cheeks lit up like living flames, her eyes having turned into white circles whilst she lost control over her jaw. Repeatedly she tried to close it, but her jaw just wouldn't listen to the commands her brain sent to it, too many stimulating thoughts entering her mind.

_…__I do not understand. What is it that has you so upset, Noire? This is simply one type of establishment, as well as one of the biggest businesses in the industry. There isn't any shame in something like this, everything here is consensual…_

Siegfried then spoke within her mind, confusion and, dare she say it, disbelief in his tone whilst he viewed the panic-ridden thoughts flowing through Noire's brain right now. Even her soul trembled in embarrassment at what she was seeing, the… images in her mind of what this place would normally be like in the night did NOT help matters.

'B-B-B-But, this is wrong! Its too dirty, perverted, an atrocity towards womenkind!' Noire retorted, actually stepping back as if she had been touched by something extremely gross. She couldn't even get the perverted images out of her head either, nor could she cool herself to a state where she could think rationally. She was so embarrassed, she didn't even notice how more Demonic Wards appeared, sealing her inside the Strip Club, nor did she notice how a new type of Demon had appeared.

This type formed as tall humanoid Demons who appeared to have burned skin like they'd been tossed into a furnace for decades, with a very noticeable dark, brownish tone to accompany this. In addition to this appearance, they wore long white cloaks which covered most of their bodies save for their limbs and heads. All the while they had white bandages to cover their heads and limbs instead, but thanks to these covering the head completely, one wouldn't know if they could still see or not.

Though, like stated before, Noire didn't notice them, not even when they Teleported to her position and raised their Scythes to cut her down. Nope, all she focused on was the shame and embarrassment of having found herself in such a 'sinful' and 'lecherous' place such as this.

Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on the perspective, Siegfried did. But, knowing the state and temperament of his wielder, the Heroic Spirit knew she wouldn't react in time at this rate. Thus, he decided to do… a little something sneaky. It would be in their best interests to stay alive, Noire would want that since she wanted to be able to fix her mistakes, so he would fulfil that wish of hers.

Even if it may cause her a lot of humiliation in the process.

_…__Hm, I see. This Strip club is made for women, it seems. I think I see some male strippers nearby, perhaps you could curb this pointless aversion to perverse mannerisms by experiencing it yourself? Who knows, maybe you could get courting experience from something like this, perhaps even a few marriage proposals. I mean, back in my time…_

"KYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

* * *

… Okay.

MAYBE perhaps trying to goad Noire until she snapped and destroyed everything around her hadn't been the best of ideas, Siegfried mused to himself.

Up until the moment where she had been about to die at demonic hands, the massive shockwave which came from her scream practically destroyed all three of attackers in one go. None of them had any chance to escape, or anything. That, and her scream was enough to even damage the Wards keeping them inside this Strip Club. As more Demons appeared in the Strip Club however, one of them MAY have stepped too close to a music player and as a result, a song Siegfried recognized from this era called 'Global Deejays - Hey Girl' played in the background...

The absolute LAST thing Noire wanted to hear as she pretty much went berserk, destroying everything around her.

One could almost eel sorry for these poor Demons as Noire, fuelled by her embarrassment and humiliation, pretty much turned into the personification of a Berserker on steroids and went in how people of this era called it, 'ape shit', laying waste to everything around her. It reminded him of whenever he would tease his wife too much and would suffer the power of feminine fury for hours on end...

… husbands and boyfriends, beware.

By the time Noire FINALLY managed to calm down, she had found herself outside the Strip Club and on the street she had desired at the beginning. Her form was drenched in sweat from all the… venting, she had done beforehand thanks to an overdose of embarrassment inflicted upon her fragile maiden heart from Siegfried's words. She didn't even realize what he had done to help her, nor did she realize she had almost escaped death just now, nope. All she remembered was that she had managed to get out of that… sinful hellhole, and now had a straight BEELINE for the Tower up ahead.

'… We shall NEVER mention this again, do you hear me Siegfried? Not even in our conversations or training in the dreamworld. THIS. Never. Happened. Got it?'

_… __Very well…_

'Good… Now then, since we're so close to the Tower now, it should be smooth sailing from here.' Expanding her senses, Noire tried to feel out any signs of approaching Demons or traps in the immediate vicinity. To her secret delight, she didn't find any of them, likely due to being so close to the Tower but she didn't mind that. Though, she didn't believe for a SECOND she wouldn't encounter any within that damned structure. Nope, she could sense a LOT of Demonic Energy signatures within it now that she had gotten closer, signatures which could have all sorts of ambush points planned for her. She'd have to keep her guard up for the duration of her stay once she got inside.

As Noire walked down the street, one she had noticed was called 13th Avenue, the blackette noticed a small entry point into the tower up ahead, but… the sight of it almost caused Noire to stop her movement ESPECIALLY when she expanded her senses towards it. 'Huh? Siegfried, do you sense what I am right now? This energy…' she muttered, frowning as she eyed the entrance. The entrance itself didn't look too bad, but it was covered in this thin, icy cold-looking vapour, one which covered the entire entrance. Not only that, but she had sensed something behind it… something powerful.

Based off experience, she had a PRETTY good idea on what it was.

_…__Looks like we'll be facing a powerful Demonic beast soon. Makes sense, entering this Tower will not be as simple as one might expect. This place, it reminds me of a Nest of Demons, and as you know, these creatures appear to hold the 'might makes right' mentality. Odds are, you'll have to prove yourself worthy of entering through combat. Are you sure you're up to this? This Demon feels much different from the rest…_

'Its not like I have any other choice you know. Flying's out of the question thanks to that beast in the skies, and my HDD Form's been sealed away from me. I'll have to go in like I am right now, relying on my HF Blade. Swordsmanship, Balmung, Ashbringer and my various techniques/abilities.' Noire replied, and she would be right. If she wanted entry into this Tower, which she did since it would be the only way she could get answers as to its origin and how to stop it from hurting any of her people, then she'd HAVE to face whatever Demon which awaited her inside. It wasn't something she could avoid, plus she wondered if this thing could give her a better fight than the rest of the Demons she'd fought so far. From what she could sense, this Demon apparently governed the domain of Ice, similar to Raven now that she thought about it, though if this Demon's stronger than her in ice powers remains to be seen.

Even so though, maybe it was because of the Abnormal Blood from Balmung, or maybe its her own pride as a warrior, but… honestly, deep down she actually felt rather EXCITED at the prospect of fighting this Demon. If there was one thing she could describe these Demons, aside from brutish and savage unlike anything she had ever seen, it would be 'simple'. From her dealings with them, Noire had come to the conclusion that Demons, in comparison to people, were MUCH easier to grasp. Humans had complex emotions, they had thoughts, ideals, goals and could hide these behind cleverly crafted facades. It was almost an innate skill, not to mention they could be considered one of the most difficult species to understand on Gamindustri. However, Demons were the exact opposite, at their core the might makes right philosophy exists within them, ingrained into their very being. As long as one had strength, then Demons wouldn't take you lightly. That was something Noire had learned well before this point, and she felt PRETTY sure that the same could be said for the other CPUs, Nico and those who fought against them many times in the past, too. As such, she honestly partially wanted to fight more Demons, cause they were so easy to understand compared to others she had to deal with. It was almost like a breath of fresh air to her.

* * *

"Looks like its started already…"

Reading the thoughts and emotions his wielder possessed at that moment, Siegfried instantly came to a conclusion in his mind. The man had his arms crossed in front of his nearly bare chest, his eyes shining with a worried glint in them whilst a matching frown was adorned on his lips. All the while, his eyes stared upwards at the skies above him, skies which looked so clear that they seemed like they were the purest forms in all existence. He just stared like that for a long time, not saying a single word as he pondered the possibilities for the future.

"The Bottlenecks I set up… I may not have lied to her, but I didn't say everything. I wished I could have though, but with the way she is right now, I doubt it would have helped matters much. Those Bottlenecks indeed suppress the power of Balmung, so she cannot use its full capacity unlike myself when I was alive. However, they have other functions aside from that, functions I fear may come to light sooner than she may be ready for… even Now, I can feel the Bottlenecks loosening up even as I use my will to keep them sealed tight. Looks like the first 'ascension' will be happening soon, and it'll be sped up the more she uses the FAFNIR ARMOUR… Balmung used to be a simple anti Army Noble Phantasm, and in a sense it still is. However, thanks to the recent trials she has faced, it has become something… more. Much more, to the point where it could be considered a step up from its original form in some ways, but not so much in others."

It probably didn't help that some of the abilities which should have been awakened later, awakened prematurely. THAT had probably been due to the affinity Noire had for his sword... as well as the dragon and the demon...

Behind him, Siegfried blinked when he sensed a presence, a dark one which completely contrasted the usual glamor that came with Noire's divinity. The presence didn't show itself right now, and it only appeared for a brief moment before vanishing, but Siegfried still felt it. His eyes narrowed into a blade-like glare, reminiscent of the one Noire used sometimes. Guess who she got it from, but all jokes aside, her situation may change in this adventure. No longer could she be called anyone simple, and even if he HAD sealed Balmung's power away, it wouldn't have mattered in the long run. Not with everything she will gain in the future.

He just hoped the future trials ahead would be able to tamper Noire to be able to handle it.

* * *

Going through the entrance, immediately Noire noticed the change in temperature. Outside it could be said to be optimal autumn temperatures, so pretty much a mix of sunny and chilly. A good balance if one were to ask her, but the moment she stepped foot in this chamber… all that warmth simply packed up its bags, got its tickets, ran to the airport and yelled out 'FUCK THIS SHIT, I'M OUT! YOLO, BITCHES!'. The entire atmosphere felt even colder than the supposed cold climate of Lowee, and that was saying something. Not to mention the entire cold had this fierce, vicious and bone-chilling bite to it, like the cold itself was trying to enter her body and mess her up from the inside out. It caused her nerves to instantly raise their alert status to maximum, eliminating any possibility of Noire experiencing any calm in this place. Even though she had prepared herself mentally for this outcome, it still threw her off guard slightly at how fast everything had changed.

The chamber itself though, it looked to be quite large and spacious, similar to a dome-shaped structure… which oddly enough, reminded Noire of an ancient coliseum or a desolate battlefield which had claimed thousands of lives. Not only that, but there was a layer of frost over the ground which made mobility a TAD more difficult, while clumps of ice filled the corners of the room, even made piles around its edges. The uncomfortable chill in the air never lost its edge the more she stayed within this place, and soon Noire felt like this chill would eventually freeze her very soul into a block of ice. She knew this to be just a feeling, and did her best to persevere through it, though she got some help in the form of thinking about her endangered city as well as its people. 'Yeah, this Demon MUST be stronger than the ones I've encountered before. This place is absolutely crowded with Demonic Power…' Noire thought whilst observing her surroundings.

Opposite her at the back of the room, she saw a large sheet of ice, shaped somewhat like a door. But what caught her attention the most, was how there seemed to be something locked inside of it, something larger than a single decker buss if she were to be a judge of it. It had this canine-like form to it, and upon her expanding her senses to try and feel any source of life from it, Noire immediately became aware of how this thing radiated HUGE amounts of Demonic Power. 'Looks like I found the source of this cold and energy… alas, its also true in the opposite sense too…' Noire thought.

A second after she thought that, did the entire chamber begin to tremble, like it had been hit with an earthquake. Bice formations on the ceiling began to rattle, as if they were one step away from falling down and crashing onto her, though she didn't pay them any heed. Instead, she eyed the ice sheet before her, noticing how cracks were beginning to spread across and up it, forming a series of interconnected drawings and patterns… before it completely shattered. This ended up revealing the creature which it had contained, as it lifted itself into a standing position and howled towards the ceilings above… before stomping forwards a couple steps and looking down at her.

Judging by its appearance, Noire found herself correct in her assumptions of its canine Nature. The creature looked to have three large dog heads protruding out of its body, whilst its form looked to be completely encased in an armour made from layers upon layers of thick ice. Each head even glowed with different coloured eyes: red, blue and yellow. When she looked to its hind legs, she saw that there were icy forms replacing them. An old injury perhaps? Well, there were several chains wrapping around its limbs which would prevent it from escaping this place, something which Noire noticed and noted down for investigation.

**"****LEAVE now MORTAL! The LIKES of YOU are FORBIDDEN in THIS LAND! YOU, who are POWERLESS, are NOT WORTHY to SET FOOT in HERE!" **

The Demonic hound, upon noticing her down below, growled and yelled that sentence out of all three heads. The breath which followed not only stunk like hell to Noire, but it also carried an even more biting chill than the surrounding atmosphere. It was almost like just by existing, the Creature had turned this place into a frozen hellish nightmare. Still though, Noire huffed in indignation as she scowled at the opposite Demon, her eyes shining with these emotions as she retorted back. "Hey! I'm NOT a mortal you know! I'm a Goddess! You've obviously got need to get your eyes checked if you think I'm not!" she yelled back.

Obviously, the Demon before her didn't like her back talk, if the way its form pulsed blue with Demonic Power was any indication.

**"****HAH! A GODDESS?! A weakling LIKE YOURSELF will NEVER be CONSIDERED one such BEING! YOU are MERELY a FRACTION of a BEING, nothing MORE!"**

'What?! How did this creature know that?!' Noire shrieked in her mind whilst remaining stoic and calm on the outside. It wasn't a very common secret, heck she doubted that even the other CPUs knew about this, but Noire herself had long since figured it out. About how thanks to there being 4 CPUs, their powers were only a quarter of that of one singe Goddess. It had been a concession made by the former Goddess so that they wouldn't be too power hungry and cause massive amounts of damage, something Noire had figured out during the Console War whilst pondering it mid-battle. She hadn't told the others yet though, A: because back then she didn't like them nearly as much as she found herself doing so now, and B: so much stuff has been happening and thus she didn't get a chance to.

Still, one could say it was a sore point to bring up, and this Demon did so just at the drop of a hat. Not even Siegfried's words reached her at this point.

Needless to say, Noire soon lost her cool demeanour as she glared heatedly towards it. "You take that back, you overgrown canine! If I'm such a being, then you're even worse! Chained up like a rabid mutt, it must suit you since it goes so well with your foul mouth!" she barked back at the Demon, unaware that the draconian eyes of her FAFNIR ARMOUR were slowly beginning to manifest.

If the Demon dog noticed this too, it was hard to tell, considering how angered it became at her words.

**"****YOU, a mere WEAKLING, make a MOCKERY of ME?!"**

The Demon roared out at that with its three heads, howling whilst its chains rattled about madly from its erratic movements. All the while, from the ground below them icy Spikes shot up to try and impale Noire, causing her to jump backwards to dodge them. The fact that she had done so surprised it slightly, before its fury at the previous events returned with a vengeance. Not only that, but it launched a blast of frosty breath from its centre head, which caused Noire to roll sideways to avoid it (though some of her shoulder got frozen over, something which she solved by crushing the ice with brute force), even so it did its job well: sealing the entrance to block her escape. Like she would though, since a fight was inevitable.

**"****If YOU wish to PASS through, YOU must PROVE yourself WORTHY you WORM!"**

"Well then, since its like that then show me what you got, ya overblown fleabag!" Noire bellowed, already drawing Balmung and assuming her Sword Mistress Stance.

**(Play OST - Devil May Cry 3 - Cerberus Battle)**

Instantly did the creature begin its attack, starting up by opening the centre head's mouth and spewing out a large ball of ice. It shot through the air faster than one could blink, though with the quick activation of ZANDATSU did Noire slice it vertically in half before jumping towards its three heads. She then unleashed a huge onslaught of slash, stabs and thrusts to the creature's centre head, intending to reduce it to nothing. Only…. The slashes only served to cut through and destroy the ice armour around its head and leave no mark at all on the flesh beneath. 'Looks like this thing has definitely got a some 'hard-headed' traits… ugh, I want to kill myself for that awful pun attempt…'

Focusing back onto the battle, Noire quickly rolled to the side when the head with red eyes reared itself upwards, letting loose a loud howl. Afterwards, Noire sensed danger above her and, when she looked up, saw a series of glaciers having formed on the ceiling above her. They then fell down towards her position like an angel smiting a foolish mortal from the heavenly plane, so Noire reacted by side-rolling to dodge them, resulting in her escaping harm… right before she stood up with a ball of ice heading towards her.

'Crap!' Reflexively activating ZANDATSU to slow her time perception down, Noire quickly made a reverse upward swung with Balmung, slicing through the ball of ice. Afterwards, her ZANDATSU deactivated, and Noire switched the direction of her blade at the apex of its swing to swing it back down, launching a VACUUM SLASH towards it which it used it's right claw to block. That of course, lead to its Armour over that limb shatter into pieces, exposing the flesh beneath but not damaging it any further. 'It looks like I'll have to destroy the Armour first before attacking the real body… #SIGH# this will DEFINITELY be a long fight…'

Long would be right, as the creature suddenly roared as it leapt towards her, intending to trap her within one of its three heads as evident by how all three had their fangs barred.

"Eek!"

A sharp eek sound escaped her lips as Noire, under the influence of the following embarrassment, activated her FAFNIR ARMOUR and flew up and out of the creature's way. This resulted in the attack missing, and allowing Noire to swing Balmung several times in diagonal angles, launching multiple VACUUM SLASH attacks which destroyed the ice on the creature's remaining heads and the opposite claw. At seeing this, Noire quickly made her move, getting in close by flying through the air and launching a series of strikes against the creature's unprotected back, causing several splashes of blood to erupt from the cuts Balmung, empowered by her ELECTRO CHARGE as well as a newly summoned Raijin, dealt to it.

"AAAAAAAAWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

The Dog Demon howled in pain, its howl uneven thanks to its heads howling at different times and in different intervals resulting in an uncomfortable sound escaping its multiple throats. Noire herself cringed heavily at it, nearly giving in to the inexplicable urge to cover her ears as she flew backwards, landing on the ground below with a crouch. She had to did her heels in though, so she could get proper traction lest she lose her balance. "Hah, looks like the one to score the first blow is me, how'd you like that?!" she remarked with a smug smirk feeling some of the damage to her pride lessen thanks to this.

It was something she had learned long ago, perhaps during the Console War,: the first attack in a fight was the most important thing to accomplish. One had to clear their mind of anything else, the first attack would nearly always decide the victor in a life or death situation, thus fighters always worked on landing that first blow. One hit kill techniques practically embodied this principle, which was why they had earned their nicknames as one hit killers, and she had seen a fair number of them used by various Spec Ops Agents, Demons and Demonic cultists.

Hence, she felt quite good about herself right now.

**"Do NOT think YOU have WON yet, you MAGGOT!"**

Unfortunately for her, all this injury did to the Dog Demon was serve to piss it off, especially when it raised its three heads to the skies and howled, filling the entire ground around them with adult male tall ice spikes. Noire however, had managed to ascend above them, and would have made to counter attack had she not quickly flown to the far left side of the Chamber, avoiding several falling icicles which the Dog Demon launched at her from above. She landed on top of the ground below, skating into a curving arc before she jumped towards the Dog Demon like she had been using hit and run tactics. With a battle cry released from her lips, Noire spun like a sausage into a downward slice, cutting through it's right shoulder blade.

A howl from the Dog Demon's foremost left head sent a shockwave which knocked her back, and when she landed on the ground again the blackette looked up and saw the Ice armour from before... having restored itself to full. As she saw this, a furious snarl released itself from her lips as she stomped her foot on the ground. Now THAT's unfair! Not cool, Demon! Not cool!" she ranted, before she sighed in frustrated annoyance. 'Well, whatever, I'll just have to keep blasting this Demon to bits then. Perhaps I could use Balmung's power to...'

_…I wouldn't advise that, Noire. You know yourself that Balmung's anti Army Noble Phantasm abilities would destroy everything around you, including the city you're trying to protect if you tried to store energy. Not to mention how storing it takes time, which is not something you can afford to waste. If anything, it would be more advisable to limit the amount of destruction as much as possible..._

**"I am CERBERUS, you MAGGOT! GET the NAME right!"**

The Dog Demon, Cerberus, furiously bellowed at her whilst Noire had that short convo with Siegfried, before it howled and launched a blast of icy vapour. Upon seeing this coming at her, the blackette's draconian eyes narrowed into slits. It could be said that Noire did NOT like the thought of that touching her, as memories of what it had done to both her shoulder as well as the entrance, returned to the forefront of her mind. As a result, the blackette quickly jumped to the side, flipping several times in order to avoid several ice balls launched afterwards before she jumped towards a wall to avoid some Icicles falling down on top of her.

Upon landing on the wall though, Noire quickly activated her ZANDATSU, then launched herself forth towards the sowed Cerberus like a bullet. She slammed into the Dog Demon's central head, using the force of the impact to SHATTER the ice armour into pieces to expose the flesh beneath. This allowed her to apply both Raijin and ELECTRO CHARGE to her Balmung, all the while applying VIBRATION ATTACKS to her ensuing onslaught of strikes. Strikes which ended with a forward flip into a downwards slash that, when ZANDATSU ended, sent the creature down into the ground.

Quickly flapping her wings, Noire flew backwards, flipping through the air and landing to avoid what Cerberus had done to retaliate: a three headed headbutt which would have sent her flying into the walls across the chamber. 'Hmm, how can I end this fight quickly? This is getting ridiculous, I can't afford to waste too much time in dealing with these guys! I'm no Nico who likes to show off with acrobatics or expand on a ridiculously large skillset!' Noire thought whilst she rolled to the side to avoid a pw swipe from Cerberus, who then followed up with a second swipe from its opposite claw, then pounced on her. She dodged that last one by a hair though, applying ZANDATSU whilst sliding beneath it's left armpit, slicing off the ice armour there all the while before slamming some Lightning bolts from Raijin into it.

By the time the ZANDATSU ended however, Noire suddenly found a paw strike already an inch away from her, and with a loud SMACK, she cried out as she got sent crashing into a wall. Fortunately for her, she didn't suffer too much damage thanks to putting Balmung in the attack's path at the last nanosecond, plus her FAFNIR ARMOUR helped boost her defence. As Noire slowly but surely got herself out of the rubble she'd created from her impact, her wings flapping automatically to get rid of the dirt they'd been covered by, the blackette shook her head as she glared towards Cerberus, the icy Dog Demon snarling back at her with three times the fury thanks to its multiple heads.

Just then though...

"Eh?"

A little something happened which nearly caused Noire to blank out.

Was it just her? Did she just imagine it, or did she just notice a phantom image of Cerberus moving into position for another ice ball attack?

As fast as it came, the whole thing vanished before her eyes, causing Noire to blink before rubbing them with her sole free hand, wondering if she should see a doctor. 'What the hell was that? I'm sure I have been sleeping better lately, I mean I get a few extra hours to my usual 2 hour sleep...' the blackette wondered to herself in confusion as if 4 hours worth of sleep wasn't anything major.

Her thoughts shattered in the next second however, when she saw Cerberus quickly launch the EXACT SAME ATTACK which the phantom image had shown her just a moment prior, which allowed her to ascend up into the air to dodge it then destroy the rest of the ice armour covering it. 'Well, I can think on it later, right now I should probably thank my good fortune that it happened since now I'm in a position to counter attack.' she thought, a small smug smirk finding its way onto her lips. Since Balmung was now amped up by ELECTRO CHARGE and her own Raijin she should be able to get in a few good attacks... or, since she had memorized this creature's attack pattern and gotten a clear picture of the heads' structures, one big attack.

With Balmung violently crackling with dangerous electricity over its majestic blade, causing it to glisten in a brilliant white glow which resembled the sword of an Angel, sent down from the heavens to punish the wicked, Noire howled as her form flew down low like a falcon. Her draconian eyes narrowed like slits as she noticed Ice Armour forming over the head. She would have a close call, but Noire remained confident that her strike would work, as she raised the blade up, flipped forwards... and successfully cut off the Demon's right head.

The one with the yellow eyes, to be more specific.

**"AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! DAMY you, weak MORTAL! You DARE to WOUND ME?!"**

As the severed head fell to the ground, almost like in slow motion during a video or DVD film, it impacted the ground with enough force to cause a large crater. Obviously, de to how large it looked it must have had some weight behind it, the force of impact probably helped too. Nevertheles, whilst it dissipated into nothingness, Cerberus howled with anger and rage, which had broken through its limits to result in its form completely being encased in ice armour like before, only a reddish hue formed over what could be seen of its skin. Not to mention, the fury it possessed caused the armour to take on an even more twisted, sinister and nasty appearance, one meant for offensive protection rather than just sleak protection like before. Its remaining heads had two red and blue fiery blazes for eyes, blazes powered by the immense fury boiling inside its being whilst it glared with all its hate towards the Goddess before it, absolutely LIVID at the loss of one of its heads.

Originally, this creature viewed this weakling as such, nothing more. This had been the case the exact MOMENT that it had sensed her approaching and entering the chamber, already dooming herself in its eyes. It didn't sense anything remarkable about her, except a silver of divinity about her which had been suppressed by an outside force. Not something someone as prideful as it would pay any close attention too, plus this Demon had over 30 trillion years of experience. It came from the DPU Era, witnessing its end before being sealed away in this foul place with no hopes of escape. As such, it knew TRUE divinity, for it knew what a REAL Goddess looked like. Compared to the one from back then, this so called 'Goddess' was a mere third! An ant! No, worse than that! How dare this mortal call herself a Goddess when I had seen what TRUE divinity looked like!

Truly, in the years it had been sealed, divinity had been seriously degraded.

So, the fact that this mortal managed to damage it by destroying one of its heads weakening its powers in the process (it could feel much of its power locking itself away with that head's demise. It'd take at least a century for a new one to reform!)… yeah, one could understand how angry it became.

Meanwhile, Noire gave no fucks about that, instead she just smirked in a mocking fashion, so damn tempted to just toss all types of civility and regal grace aside to flip this Demon the bird. Oh, how satisfying that would have been, but even so Noire refrained. She wasn't as petty as that, no, she'd rather beat this fool's pride into the ground until there was nothing left for it but to grovel beneath her feet!

In her mind, Siegfried wisely chose to remain quiet, especially since he could sense the feminine fury building within his wielder at all these insults to her divinity.

Women were scary when provoked kids, remember that.

"Hah, whose the weakling now? What, you getting sluggish in your old age, puppy?" She mocked, and as if to further insult it (she didn't normally do this, but this thing pissed her off plus her FAFNIR ARMOUR had the side effect of making her more animalistic in nature, so there's that). "Maybe you could use a walk, eh? Those chains don't seem comfy. C'mon little puppy, lemme take you out for a walk. C'mon, lets go little puppy, let's go!" she chided, bending over to her side while clapping her hands like a pet owner would. Oh, she was having a BLAST right now, she could easily see why Neptune liked ticking people off sometimes. The face this Demon was making filled her to the brim with the urge to burst out laughing. Heh, served it right for insulting her like it did!

She enjoyed this more than she probably should. It even felt like she was venting so many frustrations in her heart on this Demon... huh, she didn't know insulting people was a form of therapy. Interesting...

She could imagine a FEW people who could benefit from this.

**"YOU WILL DIE FOR YOUR SINS, MORTAL! GRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"**

Outraged by the insults that Noire had made, Cerberus roared and launched several breaths of vapour to its opponent. Thanks to the loss of one of it's heads, the yellow eyed one to be exact, no longer could it summon Crystals from the air above. That ability would be locked from it until it grew it's head back in a century. Thanks to its regenerative powers being more for its Ice powers than its actual bod, its regeneration had to be slower than most Demons.

Something which Noire quickly figured out when she noticed that unlike the ones she had fought before, this one's head didn't reform after she severed it. 'Huh, interesting, looks like I found myself this thing's weakness...' she thought, her eyes shining with a calculative gleam to them that Cerberus DEFINITELY picked on, if its stomping on the ground to send ice spikes at her from below was any indication. Fortuitely she rolled out the way in time, swinging Balmung to cut through a series of Ice balls launched at her before she darted forwards. She stomped one foot into the ground when getting close to the red eyed head, then launched a VICIOUS side kick into the side of its jaw, knocking the head into the air before swinging Balmung several times, launching VACUUM SLASH attacks to destroy its armour. She then jumped upwards and twisted herself so she was upside down, launching several kicks into the head's chin to send it up higher.

Throwing her arm out, the one which her Raijin was bound around, Noire let the item attach to her brain and had it launch a follow-up attack, calling out it's name. "RAIJIN!"

The item buzzed with brilliant Lightning, causing several bolts to come flying off Noire's arm and into the opposing head. This caused it's armour to shatter and the howls of Pain to escape from THAT head instead, the entire beast falling to the ground in a dazed manner. Taking advantage of the situation, Noire back flipped and landed far away from the Dog Demon, a good choice since the entre head barely launched a shockwave with what little control over its Demonic Energy it managed to retain from the shock she'd given.

_…Perhaps it would be a good idea after all, Noire, to start channelling Balmung's power for a TWILIGHT WAVE..._

'Huh?!' Noire blinked at that, her previous highs from the animalistic JJOY she took from mocking her angry opponent vanishing from the forefront of her mind. This allowed her to calm down mentally, which got reflected somewhat in her eyes until she hid it behind a mask of disdain. Luckily, the enemy before her had been too blind by rage and was currently too busy recovering for it to notice. 'Are you sure? Why the sudden change of heart? Didn't you say that ability's way too destructive, before...?'

_…I indeed said this, and I do not plan on changing my stance on the matter as I have the most experience wielding Balmung's power. It WAS my Noble Phantasm at one point. However, judging by these circumstances, it has been revealed to me that its the fastest solution alongside the riskiest one to end this battle. The TWILIGHT WAVE is an ability which destroys armies, but it requires significant energy to power it. Energy which is stored over a period of time, but can be hastened if one needs to. However, it may be possible for you to utilize this ability in... other ways, if you catch my meaning, less destructibility in exchange for lesser power..._

'I... see. I think I know what you're getting at, Siegfried.' Noire responded a few a few second's of contemplation. What she interpreted from his words, was that even though the ability itself had strict conditions to be used, if she were to think of other ways that Balmung's energy attacks could be utilized, she may get different effects. Its like creating different variations of the same attack for different situations, kind of like that straw hat guy who had a rubber body but made use of this body's properties to make different abilities from it.

If that was really the case, then she already had something in mind...

Just as this conversation neared its end, Cerberus recovered its faculties as it stood on its claws again. It shook its two remaining heads, shaking off the last of the cobwebs from its two minds before glaring down at the mortal before it. Whilst it didn't know why Noire hadn't finished the job beforehand. it definitely wouldn't be complaining about its stroke of good fortune. Now, she'd be dead meat with the next attack, and it could finally return to its slumber., those thoughts sending a pleased yet bitter feeling through its being.

**"I do NOT know WHY you DID not FINISH ME, mortal! BUT it matters NOT! You will DIE in this NEXT STRIKE! I will FEAST on your FLESH! AND, gnaw ON your BONES! GUUUUUUUUUOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"**

As its body once again regenerated the lost ice Armour, Cerberus howled once again. A shockwave which ripped through the atmosphere soon followed, causing winds to sweep through the air and blow Noire's hair backwards. However, the blackette didn't care about that right now, as she already began sending energy into the Jewel of her Noble Phantasm. The blade's jewel slowly gained a faint glow to it thanks to this action, though Noire masked it behind the glowing white shine of the sword's blade, fuelled by her ELECTRO CHARGE.

When the creature stopped, Cerberus howled once more as it launched an ice ball the size of a single decker bus towards her, but Noire cut through it in one fell swoop. Part of her tried to release the energy early, but she suppressed that urge easily. There wasn't enough stored inside the jewel for what she wanted... and it wasn't a TWILIGHT WAVE per say.

Right after that, Noire saw Cerberus jump towards her with a claw reared back for an overhead swipe, so Noire side flipped out of the way. Turned out however, that Cerberus's speed had increased compared to before, as it managed to snag one of Noire's wings and pin it to the ground and taking her along with it. A loud exclamation ripped free from her throat when this happened, and just when she saw one of Cerberus's heads reach down to take a bite out of her, the blackette quickly threw her Raijin covered arm upwards, the item quickly launching a VIOLENT blast of Lightning up into it's open jaw.

That resulted in a howl of pain from the Dog Demon as it stumbled back, its chains bringing it back to its original position while Noire got back up to her feet. 'Looks like the inside of its mouth is a sore spot... now I know where I can hit.' the blackette thought in silent victory. It was like shooting a gun, something which while she had little to no experience in, she knew little bits from watching those who did. Normally when firing a gun, a person would have to aim ait at first, and if one thought that was just common sense... well, Gamindustri wasn't known for something like that, now is it? Especially THIS fucked up version of it with death and destruction everywhere. Now that she had found her spot to aim at, now all she had to do was to 'unlock the safety and let loose a storm of bullets'. She got the feeling that there was more to it, and a BUNCH of gun nerds would probably flag her for it, but yeah. She's a filthy casual, deal with it!

… Wow, that sounded similar to when Neptune would hate on the haters online on gaming forums.

Anyways, now that she had her aim spot, and her strategy to end this battle, all she needed was the right opportunity to pull the trigger.

That plan got set in motion, and when Cerberus trued to breathe frosty vapour over the area, Noire flapped her wings to ascend over it, before diving towards it. The Dog Demon however, learned from previous instances as it launched dozens of Ice Balls towards her from its second head (and no, not THAT second head, get your heads outta the gutter!), some coming from her flanks whilst others came from above and below, so she wouldn't be able to avoid them by going in those directions. It even went as far as to send some spikes out from the ground so it could cover that avenue... though, instead of just letting those attacks hit...

"ZANDATSU!"

Instantly, the world around her slowed alongside her time perception, which allowed Noire to slash apart one of the ice balls isolating her and fly out of the hole. 'Time perception alteration, you just GOTTA love it. Thanks Raiden for helping me make my own version...' she thought in that moment, a surge of glee filling her being when she thought about her mentor. Seriously, this Skill had been a GODSEND for her, saving her skin in more instances and ways than she'd care to mention. She honestly didn't know how she would have fared in so many of her life-or-death battles without it, as Demons... tend to like playing tricks to get the upper hand.

Aside from that though, her actions also allowed her to continue on towards her target, her blade now almost blinding with how it glowed with Lightning and light. ZANDATSU vanished moments later, and Cerberus howled in confusion at how she had managed to avoid its attacks. Though, when it noticed how close she had gotten to it, the beast did NOT relent on its assault. Instead, it allowed its body to release another shockwave through its howls, one which crashed into Noire with the force of a bullet train, an earthquake and a sledgehammer all in one.

'Ugh! This force...! Looks like this guy's getting desperate right now...!' Noire thought to herself, cringing as she pushed against the force trying to repel her from the Demon's vicinity. She could also see the opposite head trying to summon some more Spikes from below to try and impale her whilst she dealt with the Shockwave. 'Using two attacks at the same time helps this case! How much power does Balmung have? With ZANDATSU, one of its negative traits is that it doesn't aid in Balmung's charging in the slightest. It actually slows the charging down, which is why I usually keep it for evasion or defensive purposes.' she thought further whilst checking her sword out with her senses. You know that feeling you sometimes get when your brain's thinking way faster than normal? That was what happened in this situation, Noire experienced it quite a lot, and thus had learned how to interpret her thoughts much quicker than normal.

Fortunately for her, it seemed that a sizable chunk of energy had been stored within the blade's Jewel, according to her senses... and the dull glow the jewel possessed, too. Not even a third of the energy needed for a TWILIGHT WAVE, but... just maybe...

'Well, here goes nothing!'

_…Indeed, let us hope this works..._

With everything that had happened so far, Noire felt like the best way to test her little experiment out was right now, otherwise she would have to wait till the next opportunity... if it even came at all. Not something she wanted to ponder as she gripped Balmung's hilt tightly.

At that, she mentally commanded the Noble Phantasm to do her will, doing something only humans seem to do for her kind to stay in the world of the living: praying. She threw aside her pride in this moment and prayed with every fibre of her being to have this test be a positive one, and not a failure. At that moment, it wasn't just Noire the Goddess who was hoping for the best, but also Noire the girl. If this didn't work... No, she wouldn't think about that! She'll make it work, if it were the last thing she did! Not just for herself, but for her people as well!

Moments passed, and just when she thought that it wouldn't... the blade's jewel began to light up in a dull white light, one which overlapped with the one generated over the blade itself. A surge of pure joy erupted within Noire's chest as she had to restrain herself from whooping in joy. 'Its working!' she thought in happiness as she applied ELECTROCHARGE to the rest of her body, enhancing it alongside her FAFNIR ARMOUR whilst pumping energy into pushing through. "Alright then, time to finish this! Push through, BALMUNG!"

**"Oh NO you DON'T!"**

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

**(OST END)**

When both beings pushed through with their respective attacks, Noire's Balmug releasing an explosive energy from its Jewel whilst Cerberus released another Energy Blast towards her to counter, it resulted in both of them being enveloped by a bright light. This only lasted a couple seconds though, before the entire area got covered in one HUGE ass explosion, one big enough to cover the entire chamber as well as intense enough to shake the foundations of the city itself. The loud BOOM which accompanied it would have practically WRECKED the hearing of anyone who were unluckily close enough to it, whilst Noire and Cerberus remained the two sole exceptions. Even outside the city the effects such as the shockwaves from the blast could be felt, whilst the slumbering residents remained blissfully unaware of what was going on.

From the smoke, a now completely HUMAN Noire fell out from above, crashing onto the ground once before bounding upwards again, then flipping backwards to a proper position before landing in a crouch. Her form slid for a couple meters due to various kinetic force influences, but she managed to hold on and halt herself by jabbing Balmung into the ground before her, resulting in a long, thin crevice forming across the ground. The moment that the blackette stopped, did she release a breath that she didn't realize she had been holding, as she hung her head and struggled to regain her breathing. "#PANT#... #PANT#... whew, that... #PANT#... #PANT#... took a lot more... #PANT#... #PANT#... out of me than I... #PANT#... expected..." she muttered under her breath as she raised her head upwards, feeling a lot more resistance in this action from her body than normal.

Controlling the energy output from Balmung to do what she had done had NOT been easy, in fact it had felt similar to straining a large amount of muscles at the same time, so it was definitely something that she didn't see herself doing often. Of course, she COULD try training to be able to do so better, but the bottom line about her Noble Phantasm was this: Balmung was an anti-army Noble Phantasm, it specialized in widespread annihilation at the cost off large bursts of energy. Having it release smaller bursts of its power like she had just now, wasn't something it was designed for at the foundation level, and as such would be immensely costly in terms of stamina and mental fortitude. One might have considered this an easier method of using Balmung since smaller energy wouldn't take away as much from the user or the Noble Phantasm itself, however it took EXTREME willpower for Noire to pull this off, almost like it had defied the will of the Noble Phantasm itself.

_…Still, it is worth the consequence, Noire. The fact that you were able to release Balmung's power in this way show's a great understanding of its core mechanics, as well as the potential to use it in ways that I wouldn't have considered during my past lifetime..._

A chuckle escaped Noire's lips, as fatigued as she felt, when she heard Siegfried's words. She could tell that he didn't necessarily approve of the risks she had taken by the sternness in his tone, however she could also sense the approval he had for her desire to utilize Balmung's power in a way which didn't involve destroying everything around her in the process. It showed to them both that she could wield it effectively, doing something right which was something the current Noire DESPERATELY strove to prove to herself. That she wasn't a failure like she had been before. 'Thanks, Siegfried. Though, I doubt this'll be something ill be using often for the time being, using Balmung in this way isn't something I'm used to, so it'll take more time for me to recover like this...' she responded mentally, getting a hum of agreement from her resident Heroic Spirit.

Recalling her opponent, Noire looked towards the smoke, managing to lift her free arm and swing it to disperse the smoke before her so she could see what had befallen Cerberus. It didn't take long for the smoke to vanish from the swing's air blast, as one might tell, and when it id, Noire saw the Dog Demon standing there on all fours... only, it did NOT look very good. Instead of three heads, it only had one, the one with the red eyes, whilst al of its ice armour remained destroyed completely. It wasn't regenerating either, something Noire could tell since she felt very little Demonic Power within this creature right now. Its body had countless cuts, bruises and burns from the Energy Balmung had slammed into it, with one shoulder having been completely DESTROYED to show the blood streaming down from it. Heck, even the remaining head looked like it had a few holes in its jaws and other extensive injuries. The left claw was completely GONE, too, something which Noire only noticed just now.

Not only did it have extensive injuries, injuries which seemed way worse on the inside than the outside due to Noire having sent the energy directly into one of the two mouths attacking in that brief exchange, but for some reason, Noire felt something... different, from the Cerberus. Unlike before when it acted so high and mighty, now it seemed more docile, and... accepting? She wasn't so sure if that was the right word when she looked into the now calm red eyes which stared back at her, as if looking in a mirror, but that was the best way she could describe the feelings it provoked within her. It didn't look like it was going to attack her either, so Noire decided to lower her guard some as well, albeit whilst readying Balmung in case of an attack.

**"YOU... really AREN'T... a WEAKLING... are YOU...?"**

At that moment, Cerberus spoke, and Noire could detect none of the hostility within the Demon's tone. Instead, all she felt was acceptance and, dare she say it in her monologues, respect.

"Of course not, I've trained like HELL to get where I am today!" Noire replied hotly, annoyance filling her at the Demon's words. Memories of the painstaking trainings she had underwent to get where she was today, filled her mind at this moment. She remembered nearly being beaten within an inch of her life during those sessions, by BOTH of her mentors, neither of them having been lax when it came to teaching her the way they fought so she could earn the strength and skill she currently possessed. More than once, Noire had contemplated the idea of giving up against everything in her mind, just stopping and just remaining at her own level. It wasn't like she couldn't kill Abnormals after all, and Demons weren't necessarily harder unless she fought something like those Bloodthirsters one-on-one. Fighting so many life and death battles since she had returned from Celestia had tempered her will however, making it so that she would have the resolve to continue this training, and look where it had gotten her. "I'm not one of those asshats who think that they're hot stuff just because of some talent!" Noire bellowed, pointing her Noble Phantasm towards the weakened Dog Demon. "So don't you forget it!"

Looking down at her right now, seeing the look in her eyes, the now-calmed Cerberus analysed the mortal Goddess before it. This time however, it REALLY looked at her, a little ability Demons possessed (especially those from Slaanesh and Tzeentch), as well as the Gods of the Demon race the DPUs, had the ability to look into the souls of their enemies. Not all Demons and DPUs practiced this ability however, so it was stronger in some compared to others. Right now, Cerberus used this ability to peek into the woman's soul... and what it saw completely STUNNED it beyond comprehension.

Noire's soul... this Mortal's soul... the sheer strength behind it was NOT something an ordinary being could have attained. Strength came through hardship, and this Soul must have went through numerous ordeals in order to gain the strength it has. Not only that, but the Dog Demon noticed vague silhouettes behind Noire's soul, separate from it yet connected to her soul all the while: A dragon... and a Devil.

The moment that it saw these signs, it instantly realized the sheer potential this being possessed. She may not be the same as the Original Goddess Odyssey Heart back then, but her potential held the possibility of that changing. She may or may not have a rather... powerful future ahead of her, and as a Demon which respected strength above all else, Cerberus felt like this woman had earned the right to be respected by it.

**"... YES... I can SEE it... Your STRENGTH, it did NOT come EASY... yet, IT shall CONTINUE to GROW with YOUR current PROGRESS... Very WELL. I shall ACKNOWLEDGE your ABILITY, warrior QUEEN." **

"Hmph! Took you long enough to notice, Demon." Noire remarked, huffing whilst a prideful expression formed on her features. The feeling of finally proving that she wasn't a weakling to this guy felt... good. Greater than she had expected considering what she had gone through so far. Still, her mind brimmed with the possibilities of finally being able to TALK to a Demon on level ground, especially with her original purpose for coming here. "Since you're in a more talkative mood, let me ask you some questions."

**"SPEAK then, WARRIOR."**

So, it was one of those 'straight to the point' types, huh? Whelp, that made things easier for her, at least. "First off, what is this place? It just came out of nowhere in my City, and its put everyone inside to sleep aside from myself." Noire questioned, crossing her arms over her chest after sheathing Balmung behind her back. Even though the battle was over, seemingly, she didn't dismiss it just in case something happened.

**"YES... much TIME has PASSED, it SEEMS... for YOU to NOT be AWARE of this TOWER. To BEGIN, you MUST be aware of SATANIC TREASURES, are you NOT? THAT gauntlet which wields LIGHTNING is one such ITEM."**

Now THAT was something Noire did not anticipate, a momentarily surprised look forming in her eyes as she glanced down towards her Raijin. Satanic Treasure, huh? Well, she figured it made sense, since she felt the demonic taint on its lightning whenever she used it. Plus it acted more like a Demon than other items with its violent behaviour anyways. "Huh, interesting. Continue."

**"This TOWER... the TEMIN-NI-GRU... is ONE such TREASURE also. It IS a TOWER of BOTH knowledge... AND confinement, ONE of MANY which ONCE existed in THE distant PAST. They WERE destroyed DURING a GREAT battle, their KNOWLEDGE lost to HISTORY. Now... ONLY this ONE remains. This TOWER however... MAY be the MOST DANGEROUS of ITS kind, YET... for IT possesses the POWER to ACT as a MEDIUM... a PORTAL... to a DEMON WORLD... dominated by CHAOS GOD SLAANESH."**

Hearing this sent more than a FEW alarm bells in her mind, even as Noire remained stunned on the outside. Part of her had suspected this Tower to have Demonic origins, it certainly felt as such. This had only been strengthened by the fact that there had been Demons in her city ever since it's arrival. Demons which have been trying to kill her constantly, leaving her with little room to breathe, not to mention their unique abilities gave her an annoying time dealing with them. However, it seemed that she had GROSSLY underestimated the sheer scale this Tower presented, both in its usage, benefits and problems it'll undoubtedly cause her people. ESPECIALLY when she heard the name Slaanesh, as she had read up on these so-called 'Chaos Gods' and thus, out of the four of them, Noire DESPISED Slaanesh the most.

The fact that, if lest unchecked, this tower would make her Nation a second Leanbox was not lost on her.

"I see... then, why is it here? Why'd it have to surface in MY home Nation and not somewhere else?"

**"THAT is because... THIS Tower's FOUNDATION... came HERE first. IT had BEEN built... on THIS land... BEFORE your NATION came into EXISTENCE. As SUCH, Temen-ni-gru's RESURFACING means SOMEONE plans to ACTIVATE it... for WHAT purpose ELUDES me, as I am MERELY an ICE Demon Guardian."**

So, she had an enemy here, then huh? Someone who had summoned this Tower and activated it from its dormant state. She could only imagine who could have such an idea of this place existing. One of those people had ben Ganache and his cohorts in Avenir, but even they wouldn't be this stupid. Plus, she doubted they would want anything which could potentially harm their future business prospects, no company wants that. Though, she'd be wiling to be proven wrong in that case (been if it'll make her more disgusted with them). "Can you tell me where I can find them?"

**"YOU will FIND the ONE who UNSEALED the TOWER... at the ROOF. He is WAITING for YOU… however, before YOU proceed, THERE is ONE thing I must DO."**

"Eh?" Noire blinked, confusion filling her alongside caution, especially when she saw Cerberus rearing itself backwards with its head looking up to the ceiling above. What was it doing, and why was it doing it now? She didn't know, as such she put a hand on Balmung's hilt to ready it for a quick draw if needed. "What are you getting at? You better not pull any funny business, you hear?!" she yelled angrily and cautiously.

**"NO tricks! As YOU go FORTH, you WILL need POWER... as a WORTHY warrior, I acknowledge YOU. As such... HERE! Take MY soul, and GO forth! YOU have... MY blessing!"**

After proclaiming this, Noire saw the Cerberus make one last final howl, she could tell because of the feeling of diminishing strength from it. When that howl finished, the entire creature just... shattered, like ice shards which caused Noire to jump in surprise. When this happened, the entire chamber seemed to just transform before Noire's very eyes, with the ice surrounding the walls to melt into liquid whilst the temperature returned to a climate she had been more used to. A surge of heat returned to the room, and when it did Noire involuntarily shuddered,, almost moaning to herself when she felt the pleasant feeling of warmth once again. Autumn may be Latation's season and definitely not the hottest in comparison to spring and summer of Planeptune and Leanbox, but to her and any Lastation citizen it felt just right.

However, her thoughts soon shifted from the new surroundings and returned to the Dog Demon which had killed itself before her. While each piece vanished into particles when they impacted the ground, only one thing remained of the creature Noire had defeated was this white, formless mass which floated in the air for a moment. As that moment passed, that mass slowly floated downwards, and stopped when it was within arm's length of the blackete CPU. "uh? What is this...?" she wondered, reaching behind her and pulling out what looked like... a magnifying glass from out of seemingly nowhere. Afterwards, she began circling it, raising her magnifying glass as if she were trying to examine its deepest depths like a curious child observing something it had never seen before.

"Hmmmm…" she mumbled under her breath, and after a while of analysing, she perked up she put her hands on her hips. She even puffed out her chest with a prideful smirk on her lips. "Well, I can definitely say that..." All this confidence from he then evaporated in an instant however, as Noire slumped forwards with a defeated sigh escaping her mouth. "I have absolutely no idea on what this is." Whatever it was, it definitely wasn't something she had ever seen before. Wait, that wasn't quite right, she HAD seen something like this before, when she had fought and killed that Succubus. Back then though, she had other things on her mind so she hadn't given it much attention.

"Still though, I guess there's no harm in touching it, I mean... its not like it will hurt me. I never got hurt before with the Succubus, so..."

Despite herself, she raised her right arm to touch it, never admitting externally how drawn she felt towards this strange mass. It actually felt similar to that time with the Succubus, how this mass which came from it went inside her after she experienced this same feeling. This resulted in the entire thing seemingly entering the sword on Noire's back, and when it did...

WHOOSH!

A sudden eruption of energy exploded inside her, filling her with adrenaline and restoring her back to full capacity. 'Whoa, what the hell?! I don't feel fatigued anymore, its like I've recovered all my HP and SP after a major boss battle!' she thought, shocked and disbelieving when she looked down at her hands. Both hands trembled from the power coursing through them, forcing her to clench them into fists. With a trembling form as the power within seemingly tried to fuse with her, Noire decided to get some information out of the only other being with her at the moment. 'Do you know anything about this, Siegfried?'

_… Hmmm, interesting. It appears as though this Demon not only acknowledged you as the victor, but voluntarily allowed you to possess its soul. This is something which can lead to the formation of a Devil arm, and that would have been the case had you not possessed the ability to absorb Demon Souls into your person through Balmung. Otherwise, you would have gained a Devil Arm thanks to the Demon's approval. Usually, only Demon Princes or other Demons of such power can do this, and from what I can tell, this Cerberus definitely had once been at that level. Unfortunately, since its been in this tower for so long, it couldn't use its full strength otherwise it would have been nigh impossible for you to have come out on top..._

'You seem to know a bit about Demonic subjects, Siegfried. I'm surprised... but, if you knew about this, why didn't you tell me sooner?"' Noire asked her Heroic Spirit, a dissatisfied frown on her lips whilst the soul she had absorbed settled down at last, letting her body regain its mobility once more. Siegfried just now, had just pretty much told her that he knew things about the Demonic world that she hadn't watched her search around tirelessly for information whilst saying nothing. So, forgive her if she felt a little bit miffed.

_...I didn't say anything because you didn't think to ask me. Then again, I doubt you would have, considering you wanted to find out by yourself through your own power. It is something that is admirable, but for Leaders like us there will be times when we will be forced to ask for assistance. Relationships with other Leaders and their kingdoms are just as important as managing your own, as even the SLIGHTEST slip-up could lead up to a war..._

…Alright Yeah, Noire had to admit to herself, as she tried to form any sort of counter to Siegfried's words but failed each time, that he had a good point. Then again, he had way more experience in this than she did, and was way better at it than her, so his words pretty much left her no room for argument. As such, with a frustrated sigh leaving her, Noire started striding towards the entrance to the Tower itself, the Temen-Ni-Gru. Whilst she did so, the blackette began to wonder to herself, wonder what kind of secrets would be stored inside, what knowledge remained within that could be gleaned. Could she finally get some answers to questions she's had relating to demonic matters? Most likely, since she did get some of them from that Demon Cerberus before it gave her its soul.

Only one way for her to find out there, and that was to enter inside.

* * *

Once Noire had entered the Tower, she didn't see something which had happened behind her. Something which happened not too long after the tower doors had closed behind her. That something...

Whelp, one could say it would have ended up baffling her beyond her limits.

From atop the chamber, a huge hole suddenly got created by a loud explosion, that section caving in under the pressure and letting the debris fall to the ground below.

Then, from that hole, one would have heard the hum of an engine quickly slide into silence, as a Vulture Bike flew off the ceiling and then descended downwards into the Chamber. The Vehicle soon crashed into the ground, bouncing several times thanks to the forces acting upon it, and if the rider hadn't reacted as quick as she had, then she'd have ended up in one heck of a crash. Good thing that wasn't the case, as the rider swerved the Vulture bike around in a circle several times to get rid of the forces propelling it, before she came to a stop before the doors to the Temen-Ni-Gru itself.

Looking up at the doors, the rider frowned to herself as she looked it up and down, analysing it thoroughly. "Hmmm... looks like I won't be able to infiltraith-infiltrate! She growled when she mispronounced the word infiltrate, before she continued like nothing had ever happened. "Looks like I won't be able to infiltrate this tower from this end." She mused, silently pondering on what to do next. Her 'friend' had already helped her interrogate a few Demons which had some more intelligence than the rest (though she had to limit her questions to yes and no ones, these Demons aren't exactly the brightest), so she had a good idea about what this Tower was and what it meant for it to have been here. "I can sense that there are powerful spells warding this entrance off from further passage... that must mean someone already passed the test and has found themselves inside. Goddess help whoever has, cause they will be needing it. I'll have to find some other way of getting inside though."

With this knowledge, a determined gaze formed on her facial features, determination brought about by a desire to see one's mission through to the end. With this look, she revved the handles on her Vulture Bike, putting the pedal to the medal to launch her Bike towards one of the walls. Just before she could ram into it, the woman pulled back, making her ride perform a rear0-wheel wheelie which resulted in her slamming into the wall... then riding up it diagonally. She didn't slow down for a minute, especially when she reached a decent enough height to jump off the wall and out of the hole she had made before.


	9. Chapter 9 - intro of a Jester

**Chapter 9 - Intro of a Jester**

Stars shone brightly amongst the vast, ever-reaching grasp of the night sky. They twinkled like tiny little white dots, amongst the ever-expansive void that was the outer space, the biggest one being the full moon. If there were a Goddess of the night, then right now her domain would have supremacy over the masses at this moment, everyone underneath the night being at her mercy. Unfortunately, thanks to Lastation's Pollution from all its industry, it would be quite difficult for many to make out this sight. Most of the Lastation Citizens, when asked during one of their normal daily routines, would remark how IT would be rare for them to even have a clear sky at all let alone a night one. Though, they could still dream of what it could have looked like, especially right now when…. You know, they were STILL locked in a blissfully ignorant slumber.

Up atop the Tower, the tower known as Temen-Ni-Gru, a powerful Satanic Treasure as revealed in the prior chapter, two figures loomed over the one walkway leading up to the very top of the Tower. One of them, Arkham the Scholarly man with the shifting burn scar on his face, sat before a destroyed statue whilst leaning downwards, reading his open book. If one were to look at it and ask him what that was thinking it was probably some sort of religious book of prayers, then they'd be wrong. In fact, if one asked him what was inside the book, he'd simply state that they were poems, poems collected together and stored within one piece of literature. Right now, the man read through one poem after another, seemingly taking delight in deciphering what their meanings could have been whilst cycling through the pages like a machine. All the while, the other figure whose form remained shrouded from view, looked over the silent city below, damaged significantly thanks to the Tower's emergence. What position or gender this figure had, would only remain in speculation, due to it keeping its form hidden from visual view. Almost like it didn't deem the surroundings worthy enough for it to reveal itself to them.

All was silent between the two as they awaited their 'guest' and her eventual ascension to the Tower… until…

**"****Hmmmm… INTERESTING…"**

When he heard the figure speak after a while of solemn silence, Arkham looked up from his book towards him. He didn't express much surprise, not even in the slightest, at his colleague speaking after so long, having been with the figure enough to know how the figure's behaviour was. Instead, his features remained fixed in a blank state, even the following question lacked curiosity very much, merely a low level of intrigue. "What is it…? Has there been a change of plans?" he questioned, slowly getting up from his former seat, feeling his burn mark shifting in a grotesque manner as he closed his book with an audible THUMP! All the while, he knew deep down that nothing would ever truly distract this figure from its goals, not when it had a thirst for powerful as great as this case. So, for this figure to speak of something like this out of the blue meant that it had deigned it important enough to warrant its attention, if only for a brief fancy.

**"****It SEEMS… we HAVE an UNINVITED GUEST within the TOWER… A woman, FROM what I ****can TELL. She APPEARS human… HOWEVER she APPEARS to HAVE a SPECIAL… helper, ****GUARDING her SOUL…"**

Hearing these words, dispersed the melancholic boredom which had filled Arkham's being, and replaced it with a dissatisfied frown. His eyes flashed with displeasure, before the reverted to their original state of being unable to be read. "Is that so…? Well then, that will not do. For this one mortal woman to be unaffected by the spell…" The man then shook his head, clearing his mind of any doubts as to this so called 'woman's identity. The figure wasn't the only one with developed senses, as now that he had spread his own out, he could sense the foreign presence himself. The moment he did though, Arkham knew EXACTLY who this guest was, and because of that he felt the need to personally intervene. "I will simply have to ask the uninvited guest to leave… Actually. I am rather acquainted with this woman."

Memories of the past filled his mind, memories of what it had taken him to get this far in his desires and goals. He remembered events which lead up to this point, even though they came to him as simply a mass of screams and ineligible babble of which he had not even bothered to listen to back then, with little changing even now. However, even through all the haze of blood, screams and death of people he had stepped on to reach this point, one face still stuck out to him, a face of which he had thought he would never see again. Although, perhaps to just 'kill' this guest may not be the most effective of strategies… hmmm, food for thought as he walked off.

All the while, the figure remained silent, not showing any sign of noticing the man leave, although Arkham knew that he had. If the two of them were to compare senses and danger levels, then there would be ZERO chance of him coming out on top. Not with what this being was, at least, no sir. There were some enemies in the vast reaches of the Devildimension one such as himself could NOT afford to anger, lest he wind up with an early grave. "A storm is approaching…" With those ominous words, Arkham approached a nearby tower door, opening it and stepping inside, already planning about how to deal with this situation so it didn't affect their goals… or rather, HIS goals.

* * *

"So… this is the interior of the Temin-Ni-Gru, huh…?" Noire mumbled beneath her breath as she stepped towards what SHOULD be the centre of the tower. The interior looked to be ,similar to a massive clocktower, with there being grey stone walls in a cylindrical shape on both the left and right sides, whilst up ahead one could see dozens of clocks ticking away like nobody's business. Not only that, but there were these arching circular walkways which led up the Temen-Ni-Gru's interior, and Noire could DEFINITELY spot a few doors to different sections.

What REALLY caught her attention, as well as disturbed her to a degree, was the statue standing over at the opposite side of the room. The statue looked to be formed from countless angelic-winged creatures, humans most likely given their body structure, mounting on top of each other. She didn't know why, but when she first laid eyes on it Noire got this real funny and uncomfortable feeling in her chest. She didn't like it one bit, the statue AND this sensation she got from it. The statue itself, as if it didn't look creepy and disturbing enough to begin with, almost seemed like it was smirking directly AT her.

'Now THAT'S a creepy statue… these Demons sure have their weird tastes…'

_…__On that, we can agree. However, there aren't any Demons around us as of this moment, so __we don't have to worry about any kind of ambush attempts for the time being…_

'Alright, good to know. Although I won't jinx myself by wondering WHY they aren't attacking...'

Whilst she walked, Noire twirled around several times, taking in the area in its entirety, pretty much burning the sight into her mind. This wasn't a type of sight one would see every day, so she wanted to memorize as much as she could… even if she'd mostly remember the many Demonic ambushes she would have to deal with here. 'Whoever made this place, sure had some skill in arcetecture…nothing like Lastation's though, since we can do anything, we put our minds to…' Impressive as this design and structure was, Noire still felt her Nation superior to it in terms of pleasing aesthetics, themes and practicality. Seriously, who the hell would want to come to a place like this? Especially with all these ticking clocks or this weird/borderline disturbing statue? She sure as hell wouldn't, though considering what she had learned from Cerberus, which wasn't much lets be honest here, Noire could tell that this place was NOT meant to be a tourist attraction. If anything, the cylindrical design of the interior, the maddening clock ticking sounds, the ominous atmosphere she could sense around her… it all pointed towards one specific type of building, one she honestly did NOT want to ever visit in her lifetime.

Even though in the future she may have to if she wanted to talk to any convicted criminals from her Nation:

A prison.

Suddenly Cerberus's words about this place being a tower of knowledge and confinement made a whole lot more sense.

By the time Noire stopped in the centre of the tall cylindrical room, she had already visualized everything she could in her mind, forming a mental map in her head so she didn't get lost. As impressed as she felt by the design and structure of this place, Noire didn't let that distract her from her current objective: getting to the top of this Tower. That would likely be where this so-called 'Master' awaited her, and she had more than a FEW questions she wanted to ask this master… right before she kicked this master's teeth in for all the shit that had been put onto her people against their will. All the while, Noire wondered where to go next. It wasn't like she had much direction to go here, nor did she have any mapping equipment like Neptune and her party did. Sometimes, she wished she could have gleaned some permission to have her own Bracers like the ones Nico wore, at least one so she could scan the Tower and find out where to go.

_… __Judging by the design of the place, these two large staircases beside you will likely lead to __the same areas, so its not that important for you to choose between them. Looks like in __order to get to where you need to go, you'll have to properly explore this Tower and discover __its hidden secrets. Do not be disheartened by this, for I sense you may yet reap some benefits __for exploring this ancient place. Though, I would recommend you going to the left staircase __first, as I sense something peculiar about it…_

Now that he mentioned it, Siegfried was right. Aside from what he said about the benefits and how she would have to get to her destination, Noire could indeed sense something… off, about the left staircase. These two staircases formed two parallel arches, kind of like two 'C's that were connected to these rising circling walkways. These Stairs, along with pretty much everywhere else in this place she suspected, remained lit up through the many torches standing up or being connected to the walls. Thus, she strode towards the left staircase and walked up the stairs, although she remained thankful that they weren't NEARLY as long as what she had feared upon the initial few steps.

When she reached the top, Noire saw what it had been that her senses, alongside those of Siegfried, had picked up. Upon reaching the last step, Noire came face to face… with a door. A door which, unlike normal doors, was covered in a swirling vortex of pure orange flames. 'Huh, so THAT's what was up here… these flames…' she thought, humming to herself while reaching out towards them. However, at the last second, she got the feeling that she shouldn't do that, and retracted her hand. 'Maybe touching them isn't the best idea I couldn't have conceived, what would have happened if I burnt my flawless skin? Vert would likely never let me live it down, neither would Neptune…'

For some reason, a Spec Ops Agent entered her mind alongside those two CPUs, causing her to shake her head and jog up the connected walkway. She'd come back later once she actually figured out how to deal with those flames. If it were anything she had experienced before, then Noire would assume them to be some kind of Ward or something along those lines.

* * *

In any case, Noire traversed the walkways, having to jump up to higher walkways when she could since there were no steps leading to them. One walkway even had a hole in it big enough for one of Cerberus' claws to fit through, which she had easily got passed by jumping over it but she still took note of it. To her, this Tower looked to be quite old, though she figured that to be the case with how long it had been since the DPU Era. She didn't have an EXACT time, but according to Cerberus… it had been a LONGASS time since this thing had been activated to see the light of day.

Eventually, Noire came to another door, this one however NOT being covered in flames, much to her joy. "Yay! I wonder where this goes…" she remarked, smirking to herself before a giggle escaped her lips as she opened the door and passed through. "This makes me feel like one of those famous explorers, traversing a whole new world full of secrets and discoveries. A true adventure that adventurers seek." She remarked further, shutting the door behind her.

Looked like she had found herself in a long corridor, Noire realized as she looked around. There weren't any enemies around here, or so she could see. She'd have to keep her guard up, her instincts telling her to draw Balmung and be ready so she did. As a result, Noire jogged down the corridor to see where it would lead to… only to wind up thanking her instincts when she nearly got herself ambushed by a bunch of black cloaked skeleton Demons who had come out from the walls to try and slice her head off. Of course, they had failed, with reinforcements appearing from the limited space to try and reinforce their ranks. It made no difference to her in the end.

It took her about 4 minutes to dispatch them, and when she did Noire reached the end of the corridor and found herself at another door. "Wonder where this leads too…" the blackette mused, humming whilst cupping her chin with her free hand and sheathing Balmung with the other. Taking her hand from her jaw, Noire pushed the door open and stepped inside…

Finding herself in what could only be considered a large room. The room had a large but short corridor leading to the large room, but with two staircases circling around the back and joining together to lead up to a platform which circled around the whole room. Not only that, but there was a cage suspended in the air from what Noire could tell as she stepped into the large room, with another corridor above the one she had just traversed. Although, if she thought she would be able to pass through here easily, those thoughts vanished when she saw Demonic Wards activate on the doors, blocking her entry as well as her exit. 'Oh, come on! I just finished a fight with some Demons before!'

_… __These guys seem like they will constantly hound you wherever you go. You may want to __think about fighting in a conservative manner…_

'Geez the exact OPPOSITE of my power set, right now.' Noire huffed in irritation, summoning Balmung as some of the statues in the room turned into those six-armed archer-type Demons, all the while more black cloaks and red wearing Scythe Demons followed suit, appearing from shattered space and charging at her from all sides. 'Ugh, whelp, here we go again… I feel like one of those third person hack'n'slashers having to stop ever freaking 5 seconds when enemies ambush me.'

Fortunately for her, dealing with them wasn't that hard, and when she finally killed them all after a couple minutes, did the blackette pause for a moment to take a small breather. Right now, Noire sat down on top of a ledge, leaning backwards using her arms for support whilst kicking her legs in the air and looking up at the ceiling. The moment she had begun relaxing, did Noire truly realize just how exhausted her body truly felt. She had been fighting non- stop before as well as after a particularly hard-fought battle, so it only made sense for her to welcome the chance to kick back for once, and THAT spoke a lot for someone like her who generally acted by playing all-nighters for her work.

'Whew… man, thinking back on what we've gone through so far… I can safely say that I can predict what we will be doing in the future…' She thought, both to herself and to her Heroic Spirit whilst looking up towards the ceiling, a forlorn gaze in her eyes. Just the past few moments had shown her that she would likely be constantly fighting all the time against various enemies without rest, and those few times she DID get some reprieve, would always have a shadow of doubt regarding any kind of future ambushes. Fighting, fighting and more fighting, pretty much…. Something which Noire had complex feelings about besides the feeling of adventure she had exhibited before. She didn't like how Demons took themselves so seriously and wiped out what little fun Gamindustri had left, so much carnage and chaos has been put onto their world that she could hardly recognize it anymore.

As she gazed up at the ceiling, Noire began to wonder to herself despite her attempts not to, how the others had been doing. She'd been thinking about it a lot, whenever she had some free time, she would have thought back to those she had close bonds to, what they were doing, and how they were faring. Hearing about them and actually seeing them in person were two whole different things in her mind. A soft, forlorn sigh accompanied her alongside a sense of… emptiness inside, a hollow feeling in her gut which unsettled her. It wasn't a feeling she wasn't used to; she'd felt it many times before. But for some reason, feeling it now felt all the more severe.

_…__Perhaps you could use a Companion, Noire. If you feel this bothered about it. Especially Someone you can trust…_

"huh?!" Instead of thinking, Noire actually exclaimed out loud when she heard Siegfried's seemingly harmless suggestion. He wasn't exactly wrong in suggesting this, since he was connected to Noire through their link, so he knew exactly what that empty feeling was all too well. He had experience with it himself… just in a different manner. Thus, he found it quite easy to offer a solution to it. Noire however… well, she saw it the exact opposite way. "What do you mean, a 'companion'?! I don't need no companion, and besides I have you, don't I?"

_…__Indeed, you do. However, you do have to acknowledge that it would be better for you to be able to socialize with someone in this world. The world of Gamindustri must have been a nice place before all this chaos returned to reduce it to the state its in now, and because of that, its almost become unrecognizable for you. Perhaps having a companion would help you regain some of what had been lost, to help you fight on to bring it all back. Fighting for your country is a great cause, I will not say this is wrong. However, a personal cause will help make it less stale, giving you some incentive to keep going despite the trials ahead…_

Siegfried explained to her, before stopping once he noticed she had taken in his words and thus entered a state of contemplation. A companion… huh? Thinking back on it, it had been a while since she had last been on her lonesome. Now that she thought about it, ever since that time in West Wind Valley, she had been constantly surrounded by other people, and whenever she discussed politics or did any Leadership work, she had the air of her staff members, her Oracle or her bodyguard Raiden. Heck, even in private training she had been accompanied by either Raiden or Siegfried, and when she had returned from Leanbox she had unknowingly ben accompanied by Siegfried then too, so she felt like she wasn't ever truly alone.

Only NOW, when she was surrounded by enemies from all sides, did she feel similar to the lonely times she had back before the West Wind Valley. It was almost like exchanging one cage for another.

Perhaps… maybe, and this would be a very, very, VERY big maybe… she could… possibly have…

"Ugh! So troublesome!" Noire eventually yelled out, standing upright while being careful to not fall off the ledge. This had allowed her to see the upper corridor which held a mechanism she assumed lifted the massive cage in the centre of the room, though she had already investigated it so she didn't put it much heed. "I've rested long enough! Time for me to get going again!" she decided to stop thinking about it before she got a migraine from all the embarrassment she had suffered today. Companions or not, loneliness or not, Noire still had a job to do. She'll just focus on that for the time being, not letting anything else distract her.

It was with these thoughts which accompanied her to the opposite door, as well as when she opened and passed through it.

* * *

Upon passing through the door, did Noire find herself in a room shaped like a quarter of a circle. At the centre, she could see what seemed to be some kind of lift, or elevating platform, she could tell this due to the chains which hung from the ceiling having connected to it, forming a rectangular shape. However, there seemed to be quite a few large, stone statues dotted all over the place, something Noire quickly took notice of. There seemed to be quite the number of them, littered about the room like piles of scrap in a scrapyard. 'Ugh, whoever put them here has NO love for décor, unlike the rest of this place…' she thought to herself, already thinking of a plan to proceed.

It was fairly obvious to her what she needed to do here, it was to make sure the platform would be able to be carried upwards, as the statues weighed them down. Now, she COULD just move them about, she felt fairly confident in herself to be able to lift heavy objects especially when donning the FAFNIR ARMOUR, or…

#sigh# She couldn't believe she was thinking about doing this. All those pyromaniacs in the military and the Spec Ops Programme are rubbing off on her.

'You know something, where I should see no statues…' she began to think as she moved forwards, reaching into her inventory to fetch the items she would need for this to work. She'd gotten them as a reward from Raiden one time she had accompanied him on a mission, but she hadn't found a use for them until now. Demons and modern technology didn't tend to go very well, so many mission date agreeing with this statement. It didn't take her long to finish planting these objects onto the stages, having recalled Raiden's explanation on how to arm them while doing so. So, when she finished and took a few big steps back, she pulled out a dongle stick with a red button on top, 4 long wires connecting to several explosive devices on each statue.

Knowing what was about to happen next, a sense of giddiness assaulted her being, and a small but excited smile formed on her lips. 'I only see four!'

CLICK!

BOOM!

After finishing that thought, Noire had pressed the red button on the dongle, an audible clicking sound spreading through the room… followed by a loud explosion. One which occurred at the centre above the platform. The chains rattled from the ensuing shockwave, the explosion causing Noire to cover her face with her forearm whilst her ponytails flailed about behind her like wild misbehaving children's limbs. The shockwave soon passed however, which allowed her to swing the same forearm away from her, blowing back the smoke… to reveal no more statues impeding the platform.

'That… felt much better than it should have. To those who relax from seeing explosions, I understand you better…'

_… __Did you really need to do that? Was it really that necessary?..._

'Oh, come on, Siegfried! It wasn't necessary, and I could have slice them to nothingness with Ashbringer, or just moved them myself, but I needed to do SOMETHING different to vent my stress! Heck, I can see why people sometimes say art is an explosion! Though not the show I referenced, its good all the same!' Noire hotly defended herself with an embarrassed flush. She had just lost her high when Siegfried had questioned her, but come on cut her some slack! She'd gotten the chance to pull off a joke for once and have some fun, not something she got to do as often anymore! She didn't even get a chance to cosplay like she wanted, so let her have this! Though, she'd likely never let anyone know about this, especially not Neptune who would likely never let her hear the end of it.

As liberating as it did feel, Noire didn't want people to think she was like those crazy psycho pyromaniacs.

Still, as she approached the Damage Wheel and slashed it till it fully activated, Noire hopped onto the platform and felt it lift itself upwards. All the while, she felt a LOT better than she had in a long while.

* * *

About 5 minutes later, the platform finally stopped its movement, and Noire finally found herself inside what could only be considered a clockwork room. 'Well, I guess this is where my stop is…' She thought to herself, somewhat miffed although the previous joke prior to coming here lessened the annoyance somewhat. She'd wanted to have gone up a bit further than this, but oh well, she figured this would have to do. In the case of this room however, the room slightly curved inwards towards where she could assume the cylindrical centre was located, with a thin walkway connecting to a door. On both sides of that walkway, she saw various pipes and gears locked into place, further informing her of this clock-like nature this room possessed. None of them looked like they had been active in quite some time, if the deteriorated looks of the gears were anything to go by. 'Woooow, this place definitely shows its age…'

_…__I believe that it would be wise to not focus on this, but rather the fact that we will be having some company soon enough…_

True to Siegfried's words, Noire narrowed her eyes and drew her Balmung, assuming her Sword Mistress stance as her senses picked up traces of approaching Demonic Presences. She didn't assume her FAFNIR ARMOUR though, as she didn't sense that much of a threat to these approaching foes. Thanks to them attacking her so many times, Noire had found out a possible way of identifying when they would come to her location, although it was a flawed ability. One such flaw to it was that the ability couldn't accurately predict the level of power which the Demons possessed, though it could predict where they came from with greater accuracy. Thus, that would be what she would use it for. All the while as she awaited her foes to come whilst witnessing the only entrance being covered in Demonic Wards, Noire nearly fell to the urge to sigh in resignation. Fighting Demons within the Temen-Ni-Gru was NOT something she had thought she would be doing today or for so long.

Finally, her opponents appeared around her in a triangular formation. To Noire's slight surprise, she had found herself facing off against a new type of enemy this time. These Demons… unlike the ones before, they didn't wield Scythes but these double ended bow staffs, each outfitted with human skulls with spikes protruding from them. They also had the same appearance as those black wearing ones, but instead wore hooded dark green cowls and skirts. Not only that, but they looked a lot like hunchbacks like that one child movie she had seen a few parents watching with their children on their phones. The sudden surge of distaste for referring to Demons in any way or form to something as pure as a child's film aside, Noire glanced towards the exit to this place when she sensed more enemies approaching. Beside the walkway to the door, Noire could see a couple more appear, jumping down from their pipes to march on over to assist.

Here we go again.

'Have I ever mentioned how I HATE Demons before?'

_…__Need I say anything?..._

'…Nah, I guess not.'

Before she could pull herself from her thoughts and react however, Noire gasped when one of the new Demons, the one on her left, reared its head back… before launching a blast of sand at her similar to a shotgun blast. 'Whoa!' She shrieked mentally, just barely avoiding it in time with a reflexive ZANDATSU. 'That was new, didn't expect that-oh, crap!' She had also backflipped away, and when she had landed, Noire sensed danger behind her and twisted around on her heel, swinging Balmung in the direction of an approaching staff thrust. The two weapons met in a heavy collision, generating sparks as their two wielders (Noire and another one of those Spear Demons) tried to overpower one another. To her surprise again, this Demon type seemed to have slightly more strength than the black robed ones, though given their hunched appearances their body mass must have been the reason for this. It didn't mean she was inferior to them though, as she managed to push it back successfully, but she couldn't go for the kill thanks to the other Demons striking from her rear.

'These guys may look different with different powers, but they can DEFINITELY use the same sneaky tactics…' Noire thought to herself in annoyance, hopping backwards in order to get some distance. Luckily for her, she didn't see any other Demon types other than the one she was fighting right now, so hopefully she wouldn't jinx herself when she thought this would be an easier battle.

(Authors Note: Ladies and gentlemen, lets record this bit for the upcoming 'you don goofed' moment, trust me I'll put it to good use. Also guess the reference this AN is referencing)

Gripping Balmung's hilt, Noire eyed her opponents, noticing that she had up to 10 enemies of the same type advancing towards her. For a moment, she wondered how she would be countering their strikes, should she just go with Balmung, or should she switch to dual wielding Balmung and her HF Blade? Ashbringer was also a possibility, as without her HDD Form those two swords won't drain her power nearly as much. In the end, she decided to stick with Balmung alone for this one, as the Sword Mistress Stance had some room for improvement when it came to duel wielding.

With her strategy in place, Noire broke into a mad sprint, heading towards the Demons with a mighty war cry. "Eat this, Demons!" she yelled, stopping before them and swinging Balmung in a wide arc. This caused a rather… large, wide and expansive air blast which knocked a lot of her opponents onto their backsides, leaving about 4 of them left still standing. Two of them prepared their sand blast attacks, but unlike before Noire didn't let herself get caught by surprise. Instead, she flipped forwards into the air above them (all the while avoiding two spears attempting to stab her in the abdomen), twisting around so she could launch a spinning 360-degree VACUUM SLASH, decapitating all four of these Demon's heads at the same time.

Without the use of her ZANDATSU by the way.

Flipping forwards again, Noire landed and rolled back to her feet using the momentum she had built up from her descent, running towards one of the remaining 6 Demons still getting up from the ground. She then swiftly dashed past it, cutting off one of its arms whilst she did so before spinning around and reverse swinging upwards, severing its remaining arm and then finishing it off by bisecting the creature in half. The elements of Raiden's self-taught swordsmanship had brought themselves out right there, she felt in a smug manner, before Noire managed to sever and bisect about 4 more Demons. The last 2 managed to recover and knock her back with some well-timed sand blasts.

As she slid to a halt, Noire glanced to her sides when she suddenly saw those white robed Demons from the Tavern (although that memory felt strangely… hazy, for her, like she didn't want to recall it at all but knew she had to due to the experiences it provided) appeared around her.

(AN: that 'you don goofed' moment bit? Whelp, lets bring that back in shall we?)

'Oh, stop being such a know-it-all, author!' Noire, in a moment of fourth-wall meta, scowled angrily as she sidestepped one Scythe attack and shoulder tackled the other white robed Demon, knocking it to the ground before she stabbed it in the face, making it vanish into particles in the process. Standing back up, Noire sensed danger and raised Balmung over her head, angling it downwards parallel to her right side to block a Scythe slash, then pushed the blade away from her to do the same with the opposing weapon. She used this as a way to twist on her heel then bring her blade down, bisecting the unfortunate Demon in one diagonal slash.

This unfortunately however, left her guard down slightly, which was enough for the remaining sand-type Demons to converge on her location and try to stab her from multiple angles. Fortunately, however, thanks to Siegfried alerting her of them, Noire managed to hop onto their Spears and kick one's face to force said body part to bend backwards, knocking that Demon to the ground. Jamming Balmung into the space beneath her, Noire then grasped another Spear with her legs, locking them around its shaft and firmly gripping onto it. Secure in the knowledge that the Demon couldn't move it without her say so, Noire pushed her legs into a downward motion, jerking the Demon violently towards her, all the while putting her free hand onto the ground and forcefully YANKING Balmung out, resulting in the off-balance Demon to be sliced vertically in half in one clean swing.

By the time she flipped backwards, more Demons showed up, which she promptly kicked the Spear still trapped in her legs' grip towards one of them and ending up impaling a group of 3. This brought down the original number of 16 to 13, pleasing the CPU, as she ran towards them with Balmung at the ready, the Noble Phantasm bathing itself in gallons of Demonic blood.

And so, the slaughter continued…

* * *

About 10 minutes later, Noire managed to kill off the Demons attacking her in this room and exited it to find herself back in that spiralling section. 'Great, I'm back here again…' Noire thought to herself, huffing as she crossed her arms below her bosom. Thankfully, nobody was around her to comment on it, heck even Siegfried had enough manners to not bring it up. 'Didn't feel like I even accomplished anything here, either.' She added afterwards, before she decided to continue on climbing. It wasn't like she could do anything else at this point, she WAS still climbing this thing without even a spec of a map you know.

Thus, she climbed up the tower some more, hopping over a bigger hall in one of the walkways than the one she had done the same before with. Though, unlike back then, she came to another door, this one painted yellow, in just about 30 seconds, much to her relief since she didn't want to spend much time lollygagging. As a result, Noire quickly entered the door to see where she would end up.

Her efforts resulted in her finding herself standing atop what looked to be a rectangular platform, with a single stone bridge similar to a staircase in appearance connecting to another platform. The way it was structured also made the staircase ascend upwards, whilst below… well, she couldn't make out what lay below, actually. There was nothing, NOTHING but eternal blackness, like an all-devouring abyss waiting to suck her in. She almost felt dizzy just by looking at it, her body even swayed!

'Crap! Girl, pull yourself together! Whatever just happened to you is not normal! Do not fall into that abyss no matter what, otherwise you may not ever come back! Then who can save your people?!' the blackette exclaimed in her mind in an effort to regain her sense of clarity. It worked, though, as she no longer felt the same dizziness in her noggin like she did before. Once that was over, the CPU made to head towards the right, where another, much larger door was located. Only…

Just as she made to touch it, a set of crimson Demonic Wards barred her way, the same with the other one she came through before.

At this point… could Noire be blamed for pretty much exploding like a living volcano?

'Oh, you have GOT to be kidding me! I seriously, SERIOUSLY want to rip apart whoever thought making these wards was a good idea!' Noire raged inside her mind, seeing this. It was like this place was out to get her or something! Was this something this 'Master' set up to block her advance?! If so, this guy's one sneaky, sadistic little bastard! If she got her hands on this Master, she would enjoy beating his face in more than she probably should, maybe even crushing some unmentionable areas would help release her stress! (At this point, Siegfried didn't show it, but his mind feared for his manhood right now).

In the end though, Noire ranted for a good five minutes before taking a look at the stone bridge, taking a big gulp, before proceeding towards it. Approaching the first step, she raised a boot and pressed down on it, testing the waters out. Her fears became even more solid when she felt the foundations of this staircase. 'Yeah, not the best in terms of stability, that's for sure…' Noire thought, shuddering in dread at the thought of falling into that abyss. Even so, since the areas behind her had been sealed off, Noire didn't exactly have much of a choice in the matter. It was either this way, or staying in the tower till she died… not something she wanted, lets be honest here.

With one final gulp, Noire mustered up her courage, which she would never admit had been slightly more difficult to do than normal, and began stepping towards the other side of the room, across the pit to the opposing platform. Each step to her felt like her heart would rip itself out of her chest like a certain alien from a certain endoparasitoid species like the Necromorphs, her breathing coming out shallow and uneven. All the while, her forehead felt like it had been drenched in sweat, her mouth becoming dry from the nervousness. Noire was never one to fear heights, heck she practically flew above hundreds of feet whenever she transformed into her HDD form. However, it was the thought of what could have been waiting down in that deep, dark eternal abyss below her, which sent numerous shivers down her spine.

Once down there, there would be no return.

That summed up the feelings she felt towards it well enough.

Taking a step but misplacing where she put her foot nearly caused Noire to stumble, causing a frightened shriek to escape her lips. As a result of this, she barely managed to recover in time by throwing her arms out in a T-shaped pose, barely managing to regain her centre of gravity in time. 'Whoa-whoa-whooaaaa!' Flailing her arms for a bit, once she regained her balance Noire bent her legs and placed one hand on her left knee, the right going to her chest as she heaved a heavy, yet shaky sigh of relief. "Phew… That was close. I almost lost myself there…This looks so much easier in videogames…"

CRACK!

A single crack sound reached her ears, causing Noire to suddenly tense up. Her eyes shot open wide as a fresh wave of shock and dread washed over her. She did NOT like the possibilities of that crack sound's origin, and hoped that she had been imagining these things… Unfortunately for her, fate liked to be a cruel bitch, as the cracking sounds persisted even more. That is, until…

SHATTER!

The very worst sound she had ever heard, much worse than even a blade piercing through her very soul, reached her frightened ears. It was almost like her ZANDATSU had activated subconsciously, as time slowed while the entire staircase shattered into dozens of pieces. This wound up causing Noire to shriek higher than she had ever thought possible of female vocal chords. As a result, she began to accompany the pieces of the staircase that began to fall down into the deep dark pit below. 'KYAAAAAAAAA! THIS MUST BE WHAT NEPTUNE DID BACK THEN, SHE WAS LIUCKY TO BE UNCONSCIOUS!' Noire shrieked in her mind as her mouth retained its business for screaming. Instinctively as he flailed her arms, Noire quickly tried to change into her HDD form, only to remember how her HDD form remained locked inside of her thanks to… well, either this Tower or the Demon circling it.

_...Noire, quick! Activate your FAFNIR ARMOUR! Do not let yourself fall any further!..._

'Oh, right!'

After about 10 seconds though, Siegfried's frantic words (very uncharacteristic of him BTW) broke through her fears as Noire managed to shift into her FAFNIR ARMOUR again, which allowed her to flap the draconian wings in order to ascend upwards once again, landing on the platform where the doors had been. However, the landing wasn't as… graceful, as she would have liked. Especially when she landed so unevenly that she lost had balance and fell to her knees, her wings flapping once before they scrunched up again. However, right now, one of the rare times where she didn't have a SHRED of care for grace and technique reared its heads as she barely kept herself from breaking into a shivering mess. Her breathing remained heavy as her heart hammered rapidly in her chest, blood flowing through her like a rushing rapid river stream. Part of her had even felt like the eyes of death had been watching her, eagerly awaiting her entry into their dark domain for all of eternity. 'That was... so freaking close!' she thought, fear, horror and dread cycling through her as she struggled to calm down. 'I can understand people with height fears much better now! Geez. I thought I was going to meet the reaper there!'

_… You almost did, Noire, as much as it would be wise not to tell you of it. This Tower is brimming with silent dangers I could not have foreseen, for it to have so many wards like that killing array down there..._

'K-K-Killing array?! What are you talking about?!' Noire screamed back at her Heroic Spirit. Ever since coming back from Halo mountain, Noire had NOT had any life or death experiences which came CLOSE to the level of fear she had felt back then. However, this recent one? Where she almost looked into the eyes of death itself? Well, she would gladly consider this a close contender for the worst experience so far. Still wasn't sure which was worse, and felt in no hurry to find out. Yeah, Noire did NOT like the fact that she had been close to this 'killing array' one bit.

_…When you fell down that pit, I caught a glimpse of it, but I was certain just from that alone. Down there, is quite possibly one of the WORST killing arrays I have ever witnessed. The Killing Array was designed to ensnare, bind and trap those who fell down there, with the remains of enough demons to rival the population of Abnormals on this entire Lastation Continent. It Is quite literally a massive army, and the only way out would be to kill them all... however, each of these creatures could match Bloodletters in strength whilst a large amount yet still smaller than the total army count, rivalled Bloodthirsters. I even detected one at the level of a Demon Prince. Those who created this tower must have been sadistic bastards, for this Tower seemed to be hand designed to kill any kind of intruder possible. Only the most depraved could have come up with this idea, and I shudder at the thought of meeting them..._

Generally, it took a LOT to unnerve someone like Siegfried. If dozens of Demons, each grotesque and dangerous in their abilities couldn't make him tremble, if facing a massive dragon-like opponent in single combat, if the burden of an entire KINGDOM didn't faze him, then he had the confidence to state that he wouldn't fear anything ordinary. Whelp, looked like he had found something worse than anything he had ever encountered. That just went to show just how DEADLY this Tower truly was, if it had dangers like this.

So... recall that confusion Noire felt on which life or death experience was worse? Well, she felt a LOT clearer on which was worse right now!

Fortunately, before she could become comatose from all the fear which flowed through her, or lose her mind completely to it, she heard the sounds of Demonic Wards shattering. This allowed her to glance towards the Doors, including the one which she had come through, to see them having become accessible once again. Seeing such a sight, one could only IMAGINE the levels of relief which flowed through her system, as evident by the HUGE sigh which escaped Noire's lips. 'Finally! I don't think I ever want to go ANYWHERE near this place ever again after this...' she thought to herself, more than eager to get out of here and move on through the Temen-Ni-Gru…. something which for once, Siegfried didn't disagree with her on. With that, Noire chose to get up to her feet again, nearly falling over from getting up too fast, before walking towards the large, red door and pushing through it.

* * *

After she had approached this door, Noire had found herself beset by another Demon, only this one only consisted of one body. There were no disposable minion waves aimed towards her this time, and instead she only had to worry about one. Unfortunately, that one Demon had one HUGE ass body to it, a body shaped like a giant tapeworm with a long body, and dozens of blade-like feathery limbs which protruded from its long sides. As for a head, it resembled that of a venus flytrap, glowing with a pale blue interior. Unfortunately for Noire, her human form's attacks and FAFNIR ARMOUR ones hadn't been able to damage this exoskeleton, not to mention how its many limbs generated different forms of Lightning blasts to try and electrocute her.

Thus, with Siegfried's consent she had gathered power within Balmung's jewel to unleash a TWILIGHT WAVE, completely destroying the Demon's body to devour the soul right after.

Though, right after killing this Demon she had coined a 'Gigapede', Noire did have some concerns about a specific ability of hers she possessed.

Part of her wondered why this ability had been bestowed upon her, though, this ability to absorb demonic souls. It happened noticeably with larger, more powerful Demons and felt rich with Demonic Power. However, thinking back on it, she didn't notice how but the minor Demons she fought also had their souls absorbed into her through her blade. She just didn't see or feel it because, as explained by Siegfried, these souls were so weak that they couldn't be visible to her eyes, plus they didn't have NEARLY as much Demonic Power in them. It was like a fat person eating an extravagant feast. Only something large and 'juicy' had enough to satisfy his appetite, and in this case Noire's ability seemed to VERY much desire the stronger Demon Souls. Not only that, but it had been happening ever since the Demonic Invasion of Vert's Basilicom, right after her fight with that Demonic warrior, Wolvrik the Wanderer. She theorized that guy had done something to her at the end of their duel to the death, something major.

For what purpose, she didn't know, but despite these questions this ability wasn't exactly that high on her priority list. Not when the lives of her people were on the line.

Afterwards, Noire had passed through the room of which she had fought the Gigapede in, ending up in... what could only be considered one of the plainest rooms of the whole Tower. There was literally NOTHING in it, aside from a square shaped hole in the wall which contained a few things, but aside from that there wasn't really anything else. Something which actually baffled the experienced Goddess to the extreme as she closed the door behind her, then wandered forth. Her footsteps echoed through the room, becoming silent until the next one came. 'Huh? What the...? Is this it? Is this a dead end...?' Noire wondered, half surprised, and half disappointed. She had thought she would have been able to find something interesting here, but in the end, she had come up short. The journey she had up till now felt... well, meaningless, at this point. That bugged, her, it bugged her a lot.

_... Do not be so quick to judge this, Noire. This Tower is ripe with deception at many corners. Perhaps there will be something which has been hidden behind this seemingly plain, ordinary room. I wouldn't put it behind the creators of this place to pull a trick like this, it is literally one of the oldest tricks in the book. Moreover, I can sense something in this room..._

However, the words of Siegfried told her otherwise. As a mentor and as a companion, Noire trusted Siegfried's judgement. She trusted him to help her with whatever problem she wanted his help with, and she trusted him as her instructor to teach her how to stay on the path she had chosen, though not interfering with her choices unless absolutely necessary. She thus, chose to consider his words then take them to heart, thus Noire ended up walking to the centre of the room. She turned her head to the square-shaped hole, there, and noticed several objects being placed there, suspended up in the centre of the space the hole occupied.

'Well, they can be a good start...' she thought to herself, approaching the hole and eyeing the items she had found. The first thing she noticed, were a set of weapons hanging up from a pair of chains, suspended there like prisoners left to hang out in the wilderness until dead. That dark imagery got assisted with the fact of how the chains looked to be covered in long, thin yet sharp-looking spikes, almost making them look like barbed thorns. As for the weapons themselves... Noire saw that they were Guns.

The guns took the forms of a pair of Handguns, shaped from the Colt M1911 design. Both of them had a dominating black colour Scheme, with golden frames and highlights as a secondary colour. Not only that, but these two matching Handguns looked quite similar to the Ebony & Ivory that she had seen in action a few times, but in comparison to those there were fewer customizations. Well, it wasn't like Noire knew the specifics of guns, like their components and stuff, however she did know at least enough to identify them whenever she saw some. It wasn't like she wanted to better identify a certain someone's dual handguns or anything, nope, nothing of the sort. Still, these two used a combination of customized slides and extended frames lent them a very sleek, angular appearance, while both weapons looked to have been modified with short-pull triggers, target sights, beavertail grip safeties, and slam-pads on their magazines. Also, both looked to have an additional decock lever mounted on their slides. As with a certain someone's Ebony & Ivory, the left-handed weapon used a custom slide. The extractor and ejection port seemed reversed, thus causing the spent shells to be expelled away from the shooter when used left-handed. Not only that, but two words connected with each other, "Luce & Ombra", had been engraved in cursive on the outward sides of both pistols, next to the image of a smiling half-moon/half-sun face. Guess she knew what those Guns were called, then. Finally, both handguns were outfitted with ergonomic wood grips for better handling when used in prolonged battles.

'Huh... those guns look interesting...' Noire mumbled in her mind. Looking at the gave her a certain feeling. She herself favoured the use of close combat weapons, honestly. That fact wouldn't change, however thinking back to when she saw Ebony and Ivory blast Monsters and Demons in one shot each made her reconsider. After all, having powerful handguns like that could make these fights much quicker for her to finish. Not only that, but if these guns were made the way she suspected they would, as in they were made during a time when the scale of combat was much unlike that of the current Gamindustri, then these guns definitely weren't comparable to ordinary weapons of the current age. Plus, these guns radiated an aura to her, an aura of weapons which have spilled gallons of blood over their lifetimes, so these definitely were weapons of war.

It wasn't like she hadn't no skill in guns, the original her from the original series had also gun expertise!

Her arms moved faster than blurs, her HF blade being summoned to slice through the chains before she dismissed it and caught the guns before they could drop onto the bottom section of the hole, where the blackette noticed something else there. Instead of paying attention to it though, she instead held the two Handguns in her hands, eyeing them intently. 'These Guns... I'll call the left one Ombra, and the right one Luce. Luce and Ombra, light and darkness. For some reason... feels quite fitting for me. Heh... Well, I guess some ranged weapons COULD be a decent addition to my arsenal. I already have a fair few swords now, some guns will make a nice change. Maybe I could even get into some gun talk with him or... No! Bad Noire, stop thinking about that!' she shrieked in her hed, shaking it rapidly before she shifted her focus back onto the last item of note.

The Device in question had a... circular, mechanical appearance to it, and looked like it could be a fine piece of clockwork. In the centre, was a green jewel, though she didn't see that as very important right now. The Device stood atop a stand, one which had a message written below it. The message, which Noire read after holstering her new Handguns on some thigh Holsters she'd gotten from her inventory (Abnormal Dungeons contain ANYTHING, she'd learned), read as follows:

ASTRONOMACAL BOARD

AN ASTROLOGICAL DEVICE WHICH DISPLAYS AN ENDLESS VOID. SAID TO BE POWERED BY TIME

Reading the message should have made things clearer for her, but in the end Noire only found herself with more questions and no answers. She didn't have the foolishness to assume this was just jibber-jabber though, as it didn't take long for her to realize this was a riddle of some sort. The answer to such a thing likely being a clue as to how to use such a thing. That was what she thought anyways. 'Well, If this thing is indeed the piece to a puzzle, I think I'll take it with me, see if I can find a use for it later.' she ended up concluding, just like she did with her new Handguns Luce and Ombra. Reaching out, Noire plucked the device from its stand and deposited it inside her inventory. With that done and out of the way, Noire strode back towards the door, her eyes having an expectant gleam when she reached out to push it...

…

…

…

…

…

… Huh?

Blinking in confusion, Noire tried pushing harder against the door. But, for some reason, the door itself wouldn't open. Thus, she concluded that it wasn't just her imagination, that this door WASN'T opening for her. Part of her thought that she was trapped here, which caused her heart to almost jump up her chest to her neck in dread of that, but she kept herself calm in a forceful manner. there JUST had to be something she could do here, there just had to be. That was what Noire believed as she took a few steps back from the sealed door. She drew her HF Blade, Balmung, Ashbringer, heck even her new Handguns but none of them managed to put even a DENT into it. It reminded her of this immovable wall, which she lacked the tools and equipment to properly destroy.

"What the heck? What's with this door?"

"YOO HOO!"

All of a sudden, a loud boisterous and flamboyant voice suddenly yelled right in her ear, causing Noire to yelp as she reflexively fired her Handguns behind her. Whoever made that remark, having made her jump in shock, cackled as it avoided the shots, allowing her to see who it was. Standing behind her, looked to be... well, she could only consider this person a masculine clown. He wore a blackish coloured outfit with purple flowery ends on the wrists, exposing his elongated pale, sickly hands. Heck, in fact his entire body looked just as sickly pale like he guy had just recovered from an illness, but didn't look like he would be dying any time soon. Then, there were the 8 inch long nails which protruded from his hands, sorta creeping Noire out in a weird way, whilst the right hand carried a one-handed staff. The black and purple outfit covered the man completely save for his face, which had a long nose as well as a long chin, and blue eyes.

Still unperturbed by her mildly disturbed demeanour, the man before her held his staff like a cane horizontally in front of him, holding it by the tips of his fingers and bending up and down slightly. "NO NEED FOR ANY MORE VIOLENCE THAN ALREADY, GODDESS GIRLIE! DON'T WANT TO WASTE MORE OF THAT PRECIOUS RACK, NOW DO YOU?" he remarked, twirling the Staff one-handedly.

'Wow, I never thought i'd say this, but One: I'm starting to find an annoyance for clowns in me, and two: I think I found someone even more annoying than Neptune... how the heck is that a thing?!' Noire mentally shrieked whilst turning her head away from him and resuming her stance with Luce and Ombra. Seeing this however, the man suddenly slid around to appear in front of her, forcing Noire to pause her attempt. "WAIT, WAIT, WAIT! BETTER LISTEN TO WHAT OTHERS SAY, MISSY. DON'T WANT TO GO WITHOUT ANY ACTION, DO YOU?" Whilst Noire bristled, her face red with anger at the sexual innuendos which the man showered her with, the clown slid towards the door whilst continuing his explanation. "THIS TOWER IS VERY STURDY." he stated with a slight decrease of silliness compared to before. He even bonked it a few times with his staff, before turning his head back to her. "YOU SEE? YOUR LITTLE TRICKS... WILL DO NO GOOD! NO GOOD!"

Immediately afterwards, Noire had enough of this Clown's manners and stepped forwards, pushing Luce into the man's face and causing his nose to bend downwards. "Okay, I've had about enough of that obnoxious attitude of yours, now start speaking sense. Otherwise, I'll do some circumcision on that big nose of yours!" Noire snarled angrily. She didn't get it herself, but this guy just rubbed her the wrong way in every fibre of her being. Each of her cells just commanded her to just make this guy shut up permanently already, so his grating voice would never be heard from again.

"... THAT COULD BE A PROBLEM!" The man remarked, his tone deeper thanks to his nose being held shut in place by Noire's Luce. However, right afterwards he slid out of the gun's grip, and ended up standing right beside he right shoulder. "JUST HEAR ME OUT, LASSIE. YOU'VE GOT NOTHING TO LOSE, RIGHT? CEPT MAYBE YOUR V CARD, BUT THEN AGAIN WHATS NEW ABOUT THAT AT THIS POINT?" Flushed red again, Noire tried to kick him, but the man made a 'whoop, whoop!' sound as he backpedalled fast, almost becoming a blur himself as he got out of the way before his nuts could take a nasty hit. Once he found himself far enough from her, the man performed a dramatic bow as if her attempt had never happened, slightly irking the woman more. "MY NAME IS JESTER. AND I KNOW A THING OR TWO ABOUT THIS PLACE."

Seeing the look of surprise and slight hesitation on her face, told the man known as Jester that he had her attention. Though, he just couldn't resist teasing her about it. "THAT GOT YOUR ATTENTION QUICK, EH? WHAT, YOU HAVE A HOT DATE WITH A PIECE OF WOOD LATER TONIGHT? WANNA GET SOME BOUNDING DONE BEFORE SLEEP? TUT-TUT-TUT, MANNERS GIRLIE, MANNERS. WHERE'S YOUR SENSE OF CHSASTITY, IS THAT GONE FROM THE YOUNG ONES THESE DAYS?" Jester questioned, although he didn't let her finish it by answering in favour of pointing his staff towards something which stood beside the door. A stool-like device which seemed to require something to it first. "THAT THERE, IS A POWER GENERATOR FOR THE ENTIRE SECTOR. IN ORDER TO OPEN THE DOOR, YOU NEED TO ADMINISTER A LITTLE SOMETHING TO IT FIRST! DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT IS, LASSIE? OR IS THAT TOO DIFFICULT FOR THAT NON-EISTEIN BRAIN OF YOURS TO COMPREHEND?"

At this point, Jester erupted into a fit of mad laughter, of which Noire couldn't take it anymore and started shooting the man's feet. He made dozens of 'ohohohho' noises as he was forced to constantly move his feet around so they didn't get his feet blown off... though, he soon made it into a dance and began pulling off a series of rock moves to it. "Get to the point, i'm busy so I can't entertain your idiotic streak! I already know several idiots already, or do you wanna keep on dancing like a loon forever?!" Noire bellowed over the gunshots, only stopping after a good 3 minutes had passed.

By that point, Jester bent down whilst placing his hands on his kneecaps, looking like he had just run an Olympic marathon for the first time. He waved his staff about like a fan in front of his face, before looking up and grinning like a loon towards her. He pointed his staff at her whilst saying the following, his tone a bit deeper and more like 'come at me, bro!' than before. "ACTUALLY, I MUCH PREFER A SWORD TO BE MY PARTNER. NO DOUBT YOU'D LIKE THAT TOO, PERHAPS AFTER A FINE DINE, ALONE IN A BEDROOM-"

Flustered beyond belief could be considered an understatement there, especially for Noire who wasn't used to so many innuendos. She didn't even want to THINK about what could happen should this guy and Lucy meet up, the amount of teasing and sexual innuendos would probably knock her out from sheer embarrassment. Still, to try and shut this guy up, Noire holstered her Handguns and summoned Balmung, swiftly bringing it down on Jester in an overhead smash. However, the creeper proved to be much speedier than she'd expected, slipping out of her way like a snake, which made her hit the top of the stool instead.

The moment she did so, Noire soon got the feeling that something got sucked out of her, but it vanished as soon as it came. In the next second, the sounds of mechanics whirring to life resounded through the entire room, stone moving as the door itself moved upwards to reveal the passage leading outside. "BINGO!" Jester yelled from behind her right in her ear again, causing Noire to jump before swinging her sword, again missing (to her annoyance). Jester backpedalled to the centre of the room, before doing a feminine curtsey. "THAT IS WHAT THE SOMETHING IS! GOT IT MEMORIZED, LASSIE? WRITE IT DOWN ON YOUR BED IF YOU CAN'T TRUST YOUR HEAD"

"Aw shucks, you must be wanting my head so much, mr clownface!"

"Huh?"

Noire blinked once again when, out of nowhere, a red flash appeared. From it, a man manifested, wearing an... oh god, a black and red spandex with a mask over his head, white sockets covering the eyes. He seemed to be in his late 20's, with a muscular yet lean build, sporting some twin katanas on his back whilst his thighs had some machine guns. The man took one look at her and wolf whistled, eyeing her with a gaze which Noire did NOT want to be stared at with. "Whoo hoo, now that's some sexy bod, sweet cheeks! me a likie! You're not jailbait either, not like that whitie in that white place, so whoop-whoop!" The man proclaimed, and if Noire's face could get any redder, than it probably would have.

_…__This is... random..._

"YOU MY GOOD SIR, MUST HAVE SOME TASTES, IF YOU CAME HERE UNINVITED."

Noticing the clown looking at him with a crazy smile, a laugh escaped the man's lips whilst waving dismissively. "Oh, don't mind me, the author's been meaning to fit me in somehow. I'll be outta ya hair soon enough. I mean come on, I was about to get it on with my schnuckms back home when I received... drum roll please... #GASP# the call of continuity! Yaaaayyyy! Now I get to wander a new world with enough meta jokes to keep me going! Shame the author blue-balled me just now, but whatevs."

Suddenly, Noire began to feel like the third wheel, watching these two interact. She couldn't even get a word in, as whenever she opened her mouth to speak, nothing came out. Just, what the hell? What was with this situation? First she was dealing with a crazy clown, now this clown ahs someone just as crazy! Perverted and an asshole too! What the hell?!

_…I unfortunately have no answer to this, Noire..._

Laughter escaped the clown's lips, and before Noire could do anything to shut him up, he was in the spandex wearing man's face, looking him up and down. "WELL, I'LL BE DAMNED! YOU SIR, LOOK LIKE A FINE SPECIMEN! BET YOU I CAN HAVE MORE PUSSY ON ME THAN YOU CAN!"

"Your on, tits'mgee! Lemme bop your nose real quick, boop! Ah, now that's outta my system, lets hit up some bars and chat up the ladies!"

"HAHAHAHAHA, YOUR ON, CRAZY MORTAL!"

"Oh, I love you to fart breath. Oh yeah, if ya want girlie, check out my death battle with that guy your little lover in this fanfic's got his armour from. Trust me, you'll love what happens. Alright now, ta-ta!"

"HAH, GOKU VS SUPERMAN IS BETTER!"

"Nope, its yours truly who shines the most, cause I didn't pull off a mass murder, ya know?"

And with that, both these two crazies vanished, leaving a well and truly baffled Noire alone in the room, their laughter echoing into the distance before everything became silent.

* * *

**Chapter end**

**Whelp, it finally happened. The moment Deadpool chose to jump into my fanfic was at this... weirdness of a scene. Sorry guys, I tried to stop him, but he just said, mind my French please, 'fuck the police', then proceeded to tilt as many of my martial arts awards as he could on his way here to distract me. Hopefully Noire can get over this bout of madness. Who knows if he'll return too, he's Deadpool, he does what he wants. Gods, imagine him and Slannesh meeting? I can so imagine him getting it on with a bunch of his Demons and Slannesh himself or herself, he doesn't care. His standards aren't very high in the first place. **


	10. Chapter 10 - A New Addition

**Chapter 10 - A New Addition**

The moment Noire exited that room, she had been beset by two things: more Wards blocking her escape routes, as well as another wave of Demons. This type of Demon however, differed entirely from the ones she had encountered so far in a multitude of different ways. Instead of the humanoid structure she had become used to seeing Demons take, this type had a more gargoyle-like form to it. This type took the form of a Gargoyle statue in their 'true' forms, but they usually stuck to a more blood-like one, which was a serpent-shaped bat with wings that are spiked, whilst every one of their movements remained as silent as silence itself. With their 'blood forms', this Demon type were practically ALWAYS coated in the blood and several small, circular jewels were seen glowing on their wings.

This wasn't anything which surprised her anymore, though, as instead Noire had simply stared at them and began working out plans to counter them. Plans which involved fighting them head on to learn their moves so she could dispatch them as quick as possible. It was something that the blackette had seen dozens of times before in previous encounters with the world of the Demonic, not just in Temen-Ni-Gru, so she really didn't express that much surprise when it happened. Though, perhaps the scene which had taken place prior within that room, that… weird scene at the end of the last chapter, had a say in how she had reacted right now. She'd been so done with being surprised that it reflected in her current mood.

_… __Take them out swiftly, we do not have time to dilly dally anymore…_

'I know.' Noire replied to her Heroic Spirit, mentally drained from what had just happened to her before. All she wanted was to get this over with right now, either that or get some well-needed rest. Still, the situation she currently found herself trapped in didn't allow that, and so the blackette refused the urge to fall onto her backside and rest. Not when there were enemies around her to defeat.

Instead, Noire had simply jumped into battle.

When she'd fought them though, Noire had fought in a more conservative style, switching between her various swords, Raijin, Luce and Ombra to see how these Demons work, so she didn't have nothing when she would ever encounter them again. Knowing the formula of these Demonic encounters in this Tower, it would likely be the case. Just like blood which these guys apparently used to operate, this Demon type would always split in half when hit with melee weapons, but modern-day weapons such as guns will actually cause them to temporarily revert into statues. She had fought both the regular and a "giant" size, which splits into regular versions but remained slightly slower in their larger forms. Not to mention, they attacked solely in packs, while also attacking in the forms of charging at her like spinning drills, without any other kind of moves available. Thus, it had led towards a less difficult battle, if slightly more annoying, with them which ended with her victory. THIS time however, Noire paid extra close attention to her soul absorption power, finally noticing the MICRO-SIZED Souls from the Demons, ones she decided to call 'Blood-Goyles' as homage to their bloody appearance and Gargoyle structure.

Once she had defeated these Demons, did more come, this time accompanied by a hoard of 50 Demons she had grown used to seeing. This hoard consisted of those black scythe wielders, some red and white ones as well. Each of them howled and cawed like mindless birds on a blood rage, before they surrounded her and rushed her from all sides, uncaring for if this could be her final battle. 'I'm so done with these guys… after everything, I could so use something to drink or eat…' Noire thought to herself while readying her weapon of choice: her HF Blade.

Thus, Noire returned to her usual routine of slaying these damned spawns of hell.

* * *

Afterwards, Noire left the room and returned to the spiralling tower she had entered from, heaving a sigh of relief that she had finished the fighting. That last battle had been one annoying one to say the least, especially thanks to the way those white wearing Demons teleported around like fans blinking in and out of a crowd. Those fast, red ones didn't do much better for her nerves with how they always running slashed at her with their Scythes, but she had managed. The rapid-fire abilities of her two Handguns Luce and Ombra had been a major help in clearing them out at least. Plus, like she had theorized, these guns seemed to be similar to Ebony and Ivory in terms of power… according to what she remembered seeing them do. Who knows what else they were capable of at this point? She wouldn't be surprised if those things had become even stronger than she could have ever imagined.

Leaning on the wall beside the door for a bit, Noire slowly slid down it, allowing her body to rest for a little while. With nowhere to go for now, she decided to get some rest here and recover her mind from what had happened. 'So, Siegfried…' she began in her mind, already sensing she had the Heroic Spirit's attention. 'Do you still think I could use a companion? Cause I swear, if I had someone like Neptune or that black and red spandex guy as a partner for this, I'm pretty sure I'd go insane anyways.'

_…__I would prefer it if you did get one, but not as silly as those two. I'll admit to being caught… off guard by… whoever those two were. Do not worry though, I sense that the red/black spandex person called 'Deadpool' I believe, is no longer within the Tower. Looks like he has ways of getting out that we do not. Still, I think that's a good thing, because I doubt you and I would be able to stand him in long doses with our sanity intact…_

'Heh, now THAT I can get behind…' Noire replied with a small chuckle, amusement and mirth dancing within her eyes as she looked up to the ceiling. Hearing that this 'Deadpool' character had vanished filled her with a major sense of relief, where she should have been curious as to who he was and what he had been doing in the Temen-Ni-Gru in the first place. She could only imagine what an adventure with solely a companion who was worse than Neptune would have been like, she could see herself losing all her hair because of that level of idiocy. 'On another note… where do you think we should go from here? Up, or down? Cause right now I can't be bothered to think.'

_… __I believe going up might lead us somewhere. We haven't explored these paths fully, so we MIGHT find something of noteworthiness up here…_

At this, Noire gave a small nod at her Heroic Spirit's words. She would have stood up to continue this little adventure of hers, but it seemed her body refused to follow her brain's orders. She didn't blame it one bit, despite her being one heck of a hard worker, more so than the majority of her citizens, even someone like her had their breaking point. Right now, for her, this was one of those times, which was reflected in her following thoughts to her sole mental companion, and mentor. 'Okay… thanks. Just give me a few moments to catch my breath. Not cause of physical exhaustion mind you…'

_…__Of course, Noire…_

* * *

It took her about 5 minutes to calm herself and recover from the weirdness which had happened, of which she had to drink a few energy drinks she usually saved for some all-nighters back home at the Basilicom before she found herself back to being full of energy. Good thing she followed up with a simple ham and lettuce sandwich when she heard her stomach rumble, because nobody can go far with an empty stomach. Having a break like this to eat something felt like EXACTLY like the thing Noire needed to carry on, she could not even begin to describe the levels of joy she felt finally having some food in her belly. She could understand how explorers felt whenever they were on long-erm assignments in isolated areas, especially in her situation. Also, speaking of her situation, a little something of note which Noire had noticed during her small break, was that Demons didn't attack her here. For whatever reason, Noire would always be safe in this section of the Tower, no Demons, no annoying Clowns or weird spandex perverts, nothing.

A little thing, but one Noire wholeheartedly appreciated.

After the small break was up according to her internal clock, Noire decided to get going once more, scaling the spiralling pathways to see if she could get to the top. The more she did so, the more she began to realize that these paths didn't exactly lead her to the top, but rathe something else. No, more like they lead to a way to GET TO the top, something she soon found herself to have been right about when she approached yet another mechanical-looking stool. Much like the one which had been in that room… just the thought of what happened there made her wish she could forget about it.

"Whelp looks like a dead end…" the blackette mused as she looked around, noticing she had indeed reached the end of this particular pathway. She also noticed that she was quite close to the source of the clockwork sounds, which came from the gears nearby. She then looked down at the Mechanism beside her, of which she saw a small circular hole at its centre. There looked to have been a message on it, but thanks to the passage of time the message had become too faded to write. 'Huh, I wonder why there was a message for that trinket and not for this thing…' she wondered to herself. Just then though, as Noire looked towards the hole, the flashing image of the said trinket she had picked up went through her mind, causing her to widen her eyes in alertness and realization. "Wait a moment… maybe its possible…" she mumbled under her breath.

Afterwards, Noire pulled out the same trinket, the Astronomical Board, she had found before from her Inventory, holding it in her hand with a calculating gaze. She held this gaze for a few seconds, eyeing the circular green gem in the middle before she glanced to the hole to compare the two shapes. A few seconds passed, before she realized these two could fit with 100% efficiency. "Well. Here's hoping this works…" Noire mused, before flipping the trinket into the air and catching it in her hand by its edges. She then proceeded to place the trinket inside the device, before she stepped back to see if there would be something happening thanks to her actions.

Something did INDEED happen, although she couldn't tell where. What she could tell though, was the fact that it had to do with moving stone, similar to that locked door. 'Huh, well what do you know, it worked… wonder what exactly happened though…' Noire thought, her lips pursed together, and her brows furrowed in confusion. All she could tell, was that it had happened somewhere below her, and little else than that. That could only mean she would have to retrace her steps, or rather she would have to think back using her mental map in order to piece together what might have moved.

She opted for the detective-like option at the end after a few moments of consideration.

Noire, firmly resolute in her choice, sat down in what she had learned was the 'Lotus Position' when she had looked up some forms of meditation out of boredom on the internet, from Siegfried's urging the previous hours. It had ended up helping her keep her calm in tough situations, though it wasn't always ideal.

The position was described as followed, and Noire took to it down to the tiniest detail. From sitting cross-legged on the floor in Sukhasana (an asana AKA a body posture), one foot is placed on top of the opposite thigh with its sole facing upward and heel close to the abdomen. The other foot is then placed on the opposite thigh as symmetrically as possible. The knees are in contact with the ground. The torso is placed in balance and alignment such that the spinal column supports it with minimal muscular effort. The torso is centered above the hips. To relax the head and neck, the jaw is allowed to fall towards the neck and the back of the neck to lengthen. The shoulders move backwards and the ribcage lifts. The tongue rests on the roof of the mouth. The eyes may be closed, the body relaxed, with awareness of the overall asana. Adjustments are made until balance and alignment are experienced. Alignment that creates relaxation is indicative of a suitable position for the asana. The asana should be natural and comfortable, without any sharp pains.

In this position she followed to a T, Noire closed her eyes and let her mind still itself, focusing on solely one objective only: to figure out where the sound originated.

'Alright, now let's see… From the pathways I was able to look through, a lot of them had holes in their design. Likely due to the strain of time, or through a major battle of sorts. Perhaps the reason why the Demons don't come to this place was due to the amount of death which lingers here? I've been getting traces of it throughout my ascension of this Tower, but not by much, which makes sense given this place's age. It's a miracle that its even still standing after so many years. Therefore, that rumbling sound could have been a self-repair system or an automated one attempting to fix a problem it should have long ago but couldn't for some reason. No, that's unlikely if such a system existed one: I would have seen something hinting at it, and I haven't. Two: if there was something like that, then the damage I've seen wouldn't have been here. Thus, I can conclude that this isn't the case, and something else must have been triggered, but what? Hmmmmmm… Hmmmmmmmmmm… hang on a minute, there WAS something! Wasn't one of the pathways blocked from me, keeping me from going any further? Yes, yes there was! I remember, there was a pathway barred by these long, tall pillars of stone which protruded out from the walls! If that's the case, then it could very well be them which have moved, allowing me to finally pass! If this is indeed true, then I still have a lead I can investigate, thus I shouldn't dawdle. I can't see any other alternatives; therefore, I should probably go down there to investigate.'

Although this process felt quite quick to her, upon opening her eyes Noire quickly felt her inner alarm clock and found that about 30 minutes had passed already, much to her surprise. Then again, those in meditation tend to lose track of time, a fact she had once learned herself when she initially tried it out. Standing up from her Lotus Position (although she embarrassingly recalled the times she fell over from this position when she hurried this standing up procedure. Good thing nobody had been around to see it save for Siegfried, otherwise she'd die of shame), Noire quickly donned her FAFNIR ARMOUR, before spreading her wings and shooting up into the air.

She then backflipped, which lead to her swan-diving down to the lower pathways below. Noire made sure to control the speed of her descent by manipulating the position of her wings, just enough so she could analyse the various pathways. Thanks to this Armour's visual acuity enhancements, Noire often found herself noticing things in much greater detail than she had ever done so before, something which she really appreciated in situations where she had to search for the tiniest of oddities. Such a case could be right now for instance, as Noire managed to descend down to the lowest few pathways, before halting herself by lifting her body into an upright position, flapping her wings a few times to push air blasts downwards to keep her afloat, before constantly flapping to maintain her altitude.

It was quite different from her HDD form's flight abilities; she would definitely admit. With her HDD Form, she didn't have to worry about anything since her floating abilities as well as her flight ones were handled by her processor units indefinitely. A sign of her godly divinity, she had learned early on in her life… one of the few things she even recalled from that time. Even after the first time she had awakened this ability when training with Balmung though, Noire had quickly noticed that whilst the wings were connected to her by a gravitational pull like her HDD Form's, they behaved more like actual limbs, which made sense since neither of them were mechanical but organic in nature, and as such they could get strained in time if used for too long. Kind of like when birds land on branches in forests to rest their wings, although in Noire's case she had trained them to last for hours on end, her current limit being a full 24 hours.

One of her prouder accomplishments, she would happily admit.

Focused utterly on her goals, remaining as goal-oriented as ever, Noire looked around to see if she could locate her subject of interest. Her slitted, draconian eyes scanned everything in their sight with the most intense scrutiny, until a few seconds later when she noticed that one such pathway had signs of movable pillars. Pillars which, according to her memory, used to bar her way. Now, they no longer seemed present there, seemingly having been absorbed into the walls themselves.

One wouldn't blame her for grinning in excitement and pumping a fist close to her side in victory, especially in her personality-influencing FAFNIR ARMOUR. 'Yes! I was right!' the woman thought in sheer glee, her grin showing how some of her teeth were slowly sharpening into the fangs of a dragon. Though, it wasn't something which Noire noticed right now in her happiness. Now, we can see just what it is that these pillars were trying to hide from me!' she thought to herself, already strafing over before prepping her landing. Her wings flapped continuously, increasing their flapping rates when she got close to her destination, before allowing Noire to drop onto the pathway just after the pillars.

THUMP!

With a loud sound, Noire impacted the pathway whilst in a one-legged crouch, letting her wings tuck themselves inwards before getting to her feet. She then dismissed her FAFNIR ARMOUR, and switched her HF Blade to her Ashbringer. She decided that since this blade had holy powers, and it hadn't seen as much action as Balmung recently, she should let it have a chance to shine in the upcoming battles. Battles she felt CERTAIN would be coming. With that out of the way, Noire continued on…

Until she found herself standing before what looked like an ornamental two-pronged Trident impaling a large mechanism, very much similar to the one she had just inserted the Astronomical Board into. "Huh… so THIS is what these things were guarding…?" Noire mumbled when she saw it, walking up to the Trident. She had to admit, when wondering what she would find, this wasn't something amongst her list of expectations, though she would take it since it meant she didn't get to fight many hordes of Demons yet. When she reached towards the Trident to pull it out however, Noire noticed an inscription on the Trident's shaft. The Inscription was quite long, longer than she would have expected from something like it. "Huh… looks like its still readable…" she mumbled, before taking the Trident and pulling it out.

Once she did, Noire held it horizontally so she could read the inscription in her mind:

VAJURA

MODEL OF AN ANCIENT WEAPON USED TO CONTROL LIGHTNING

THIS IS JUST AN ORNAMENT

'Hmmm… quite a peculiar sentence to put at the end of an ornament like this…' Noire thought in contemplation, putting the Trident, or rather the Vajura, into her Inventory. When she did so, the blackette once again put herself in the Lotus Position and began to ponder, stretching her mind for any sort of answer. It soon came to her though, like, within a couple seconds as memories flashed through her mind, showing her a mechanism she had discovered not too long into her ascension of the Tower. 'Oh yeah! There was that cranking mechanism beyond that first door wasn't there? In the room I took a short rest on when Siegfried asked me about… having a companion.' Noire thought in realisation, before she frowned to herself.

She would never admit to wanting to have a companion she could talk to; she wouldn't admit to wanting a female companion to relate with and talk about more normal subjects. Heck, she would NEVER admit within a million years or even beyond that, of her wanting some companion who knew what they were doing and were quite competent on the battlefield. Nope, not at all…

Returning her focus to the task at hand, Noire stood up once again and headed off, seeking to returning to that room she had hinted at in the previous few paragraphs.

* * *

Returning to that room, as Noire had expected, wasn't so easy as she had wanted it to be. Not only did she get ambushed by Demons along that long, thin corridor which she dispatched them with ease, but she also managed to get herself into even MORE Demonic trouble when she arrived. Apparently, the Demons didn't like her progress through the Tower thus far and wanted to hinder her further. Like they hadn't been doing that enough already…

Ugh!

Fortunately, not all of this was bad, in fact Noire found it MUCH easier to deal with these 'mobs' of enemies in comparison to previous battles. Her Handguns had been as huge a help as Noire had expected them to be, having pretty much annihilated these cannon fodder on the spot with their rounds. She'd even got the bonus benefit of slowly getting used to wielding either a gun in one hand, holding one in two, or duel wielding them. If there was anything good these constant attacks on her served, it would be that she got LOTS of practice for her combat training, and considering how bad she had been with gunmanship, Noire valued this training immensely. Heh, who knew there'd come a time where she would actually do something borderline heretical, to be able to THANK the Demons for something?

Finally, however, Noire had wiped out all the Demons which had been trying to take her out in this 'Living Statue Room' as she had called it, before ascending to the second platform where the hallway containing the cranking mechanism awaited her. She remembered needing something which controlled lightning to 'acquire the SOUL OF STEEL' according to the vague inscription on it as she walked towards the mechanism. All the while, Noire pulled the Trident Vajura out of her Inventor, rearing the weapon arm back as if prepping to throw it. Once she had gotten close enough to the chain mechanism, though, did she slam it into the place where there were 2 holes, ones which fit the Trident like a glove.

'There! That should do it!'

With that thought, Noire took a step back watching as the cranking mechanism got to work. It soon began to rotate backwards, and the sounds of something chained being lifted filled her ears. This caused her to twirl around towards the cage, which resulted in her eyes witnessing it lifting itself off what lay within. 'Alright! Now let's see what was so important that it needed to be caged away like that!' Noire thought, feeling rather excited right now. To be frank, she never liked cages, it reminded her way too much of what the Basilicom had been like for her upon her return from Celestia. A complete representation of the powerlessness whist she did nothing to stop the tyrannical rule of Avenir. When the cage finally stopped, Noire strode confidently towards it, nearly skipping had she any less self-control. The lifting of that cage, it represented her own little 'prison break', which had only fuelled her excitement further.

Upon her approaching the space under the cage, Noire found… what looked to be a circular object embedded inside an Altar, as if it were an important sacrifice in a ritual. Reaching out for it and plucking it from that altar (with more than a little desire to wreck the altar being born within her mind), Noire brought it up to her eye level. The object took the appearance of a circular, orb-like appearance, black but with a pulsating blue glowing interior. She could sense power flowing through this item, like a star within the ever-expanding outer space. A light in the darkness. Kind of similar to her own situation yet again, Noire thought as she examined the altar and, like she suspected, found an inscription. It read as follows:

SOUL OF STEEL

THE ESSENCE OF A POWERFUL AND FEARLESS SOUL

ITS POSSESSOR NEED NOT FEAR HELL NOR OBLIVION

'Okay… considering each of the past inscriptions lead to how these items are needed to help me advance through the Tower, this one's gotta be the same way.' Noire thought in contemplation whilst she put the item inside her Inventory. Searching through her memories for anything she could have missed during her time in this place, she came up blank. Noire couldn't think of any places of which she hadn't explored as of yet, she'd gone through the three doors, she'd conquered several sections of the Tower, and finally defeated more enemies than she would care to mention. Yet, these enemies came at her in numbers which were DWARFED by the forces of Chaos assaulting Leanbox now, but in their case the blood pumping adrenaline felt much realer, more vicious and savage. If she were to make a comparison, then it'd be like fire and water. These battles flowed like a never-ending stream in comparison to those fiery, passionate and searing battles for her survival.

_…__I'll ponder on it for you, Noire. Meanwhile, you might want to consider the approaching company you're about to have…_

Siegfried's words rang true, for after he said them Noire found those same Wards forming on the doors to this Living Statue Room appear, which blocked her inside whilst dozens of Demons appeared around her. As she saw this, especially those Six-armed Statues prepping their volleys to fire at her, Noire sighed as she held Ashbringer in one hand, and Luce in the other, hopping into the air and descending downwards. 'Here we go again…' she thought to herself as the battle begun.

* * *

Later, after she had finished killing this wave of Demons…

'Um… Siegfried, are you sure this is a good idea…?' Noire couldn't help but think right now that her Heroic Spirit had last his mind when he had suggested what he had back then. Well, in hindsight, he had merely suggested to her a supposed route to where she could USE this item, and Noire had followed it to the latter. What she didn't expect… was to be taken right back to the platform which stood aside that dark abyss which was actually one big killing array. That array which Noire had nearly fallen into if it hadn't been for her quick shifting into her FAFNIR ARMOUR.

Just thinking about that incident sent shivers down her spine, especially with what she'd learned about it.

This Killing Array…

It had SERIOUSLY come one step away from taking her life.

So, why should she not be weary of Siegfried making her come back here?

Meanwhile, Siegfried remained convinced that this was the only way for them to proceed. He himself may no have wanted to head back here thanks to the memories of almost falling into that killing array, but there weren't any other alternatives. If he were capable of his full power, heck if Noire could channel Balmung's full power as well as the legacy which she would be soon meeting, then she would definitely have been able to last through this Killing Array, hell she'd have been able to grow stronger for it. As such, they would have to swallow their emotions in order to tackle this problem.

_…__I am certain Noire. No matter how many times we rerun the calculations, there is no way for us to proceed other than moving across this Killing Array. Unfortunately, back then we weren't able to proceed because we lacked the means to do so. However, that Soul of Steel item we have seems to be the key for us to continue. Remember what it said, pull the device out and just go forth. It is the only option which we have anymore…_

Noire tried to find something, anything to counter with Siegfried, however to her frustration there wasn't anything she could use. It seemed that her Heroic Spirit had accounted for everything they had gone through up until this point, and right now it was only her stubbornness which refused to accept this outcome. Her mind waged war with itself as she glared down at the Killing Array, concealed within the darkness that the pit displayed. Oh, how she wished she didn't have to stay near this place, how she wished she would never have to face this thing ever again. True, part of her wondered if flying with her FAFNIR ARMOUR would have solved the problem, but this Killing Array's complexity made her think there was something built in to trap flying opponents. She had only gotten away with it last time due to the speed she had done it with, something she doubted would happen a second time.

As a result, it… only left her with Siegfried's option.

Finally, the war inside reached its peak and a conclusion exploded forth within her being. 'Ugggghhhhhh…. Darn it, fine! If you and I fall into that detestable array, I'll be blaming you for it when I die, got it?!' Noire shouted at her Heroic Spirit, receiving silence as a reply whilst she slowly, cautiously raised a single foot to try and see if she could do anything. Not only hat, but she also pulled out the Soul of Steel for comfort, as if the Handguns holstered onto her thighs weren't enough already. As her foot made to step forwards, the orb in her hands promptly started to glow… and in that moment, two things happened:

One: Noire lost her sense of fear, anxiety, doubt and dread. Everything got replaced with a tranquil calmness which could only be compared to Buddhists reaching enlightenment after hundreds of years' worth of meditation. A powerful serene calmness enveloped her being, yet beneath that lay a wall of impregnable steel, a will which would refuse to entertain the notions she had previously carried.

Two: Noire actually felt like she had stepped on a solid surface, and when she did, the blackette noticed something. When her foot stepped on this seemingly physical surface, even though her eyes told her only formless space existed there… what seemed to be ripples of air erupted from her foot and expanded outwards. It was like she were stepping onto a body of water, walking along it without any sense of fear or doubt that she would fall under.

_…__Interesting… it looks like I was indeed correct in my assumptions. This Soul of Steel will allow you to cross this Killing Array without being drawn into it and being forced to fight so many Demons. That place would be too dangerous for the current you anyways, should you have went there, you would have had to face an army unlike what we have experience before, with Bloodthirster and Demon Prince level enemies. You would only be heading to your death if you went down there…_

'Then it's a good thing I don't need to worry about going down there, isn't it?'

Noire responded to her tenant's words, before she continued walking upwards as if climbing a staircase made of water. She didn't stop for even a second, keeping her mind and heart clear of any distractions. Only when she reached the platform on the other side did the blackette exhale in relief, glad that Siegfried had been right on the money with their chances to cross this place. 'There… Now we can advance further up this darn Temen-Ni-Gru already. This Master better not be trying to stall for time, otherwise I'll rip off this person's unmentionables and freaking FEED them to him!'

Although glad that this recent trial had been passed, it didn't diminish the vengeful flames burning within her soul in the slightest. Heck, as she stepped towards what looked to be a sealed door, as it had a set of stone pillars with a circular hole in them fit just right for the soul of steel, Noire's eyes carried a heated gaze that even the sun itself would look cool in comparison to. No words could describe the amount of raw hatred Noire felt inside of her for whoever challenged her back in her Office. Whoever this person ended up being, they would DEFINITELY be having an utterly FURIOUS Goddess to contend with soon enough!

She didn't say anything as she put the soul of steel into the hole, watching as it alongside the pillars sank into the ground, revealing another door. This one seemed to reach the ceiling above in height, but Noire didn't ay much attention to this. Not when she had thoughts of fiery wrath in mind. As such, Noire stepped forwards, pushing the door open and slipping through.

* * *

When she closed the door behind her, Noire found herself looking down a set of stairs, ones which curved likely a full 180 degrees. She of course, continued her stride and made her way down them, coming face to face with another large room. This room reminded her of the elevator room which she had cleared those statues in, especially with the chain-lifting elevator platform in the centre. The only thing was, that unlike the previous one, this one had both a Damage Wheel for its mechanism, as well as… was that a skull engraved onto the wall? And, now that she had her eyes on it…

Why did she seem so drawn to it? Like it was calling her?

_…__Noire, I think it would be wise to investigate this skull before we proceed. I cannot explain why myself, however I do sense great Wards in place here. Not ones which lock us in certain rooms with Demons, these ones seem much more… complex. If I were to guess, then I would say that there could be something hidden within this section of the Temen-Ni-Gru that could be beneficial to you…_

Siegfried spoke within her mind, and when he did Noire quickly realized how deeply the Heroic Spirit had been affected by this skull, as well as the possibilities it contained. Noire herself didn't understand it completely, but she too felt drawn to that thing, more so than the Damage Wheel which she suspected operated the lift mechanism. She heard the door shut itself behind her, but she didn't pay it much heed as Noire walked towards the skull. All the while, the closer she got to it, the more the eye sockets the Skull had begun to glow an ominous, crimson red colour. Almost like it was reacting to her presence, gradually growing more and more as she got closer to it.

When Noire had gotten within an arm's reach of the Skull… the blackette gasped when something happened. The Skull's glowing sockets became so right, and equally crimson sparks danced across the Skull itself, that she had to cover her eyes with one arm. All the while, she soon got the feeling of getting picked up by something, but by what she couldn't tell. She tried to move about, but her mobility felt like it had been stripped from her, and no longer could she feel anything below her resembling ground.

'Wha?! What the heck is happening?! Siegfried, what is this?!'

Unfortunately for her, when Noire shouted through her link to the Heroic Spirit, she didn't Get an answer. No, she realized after a couple seconds, it was more like she couldn't due to something interfering with the link between the two. The black-haired CPU could tell this due to sensing some kind of 'weight' fall on top of the link inside her being, stopping Siegfried from hearing her. Though, she still felt the connection to Balmung, so she could still use her stronger sword.

Still, this did NOT serve the purpose of stopping the panic, dread and fear from taking place within her. Nope, instead Noire felt like she would literally explode with these awful feelings surging inside her, even as she repeatedly chanted things Siegfried had once told her to keep a level head, especially when discussing politics with other staff members. With The lack of knowledge, the feeling of being taken somewhere, combined with the lack of communication to her Heroic Spirit, Noire almost missed what happened next.

In an instant, a sharp piercing sensation entered the depths of her mind, causing her to gasp out and groan in pained irritation. The blackette wasn't unused to thigs like this, as sometimes during the early days of Siegfried attempting to speak to her she got that same aftereffect, but in comparison to now… she couldn't find any. The fact that she had to bite her tongue to stop herself from screaming like a banshee thanks to this sensation spoke volumes.

Yet, even so, it only lasted a second as what felt like… symbols, symbols she couldn't recognize at first, entered her mind. They flowed in like a tongue of flame itself, remaining disjointed and all over the place as if she were someone with dyslexia. However, this only remained so for a short minute, and afterwards these symbols joined together in a way which formed a sentence, something which Noire didn't know how to read at first, but as she gazed at them in her mind's eye, she slowly found the symbols becoming… clearer, more eligible to the point she would be able to read them.

After a second or two, Noire finally got the shot of reading them, which put her mind at ease and distracted her from her current situation. These symbols read as follows:

SECRET MISSION:

DESTROY ALL ENEMIES IN THE ROOM WITHOUT TAKING A SINGLE HIT

'Secret Mission? What the hell is that? Anyways it doesn't matter, I don't have time for this! I gotta get back! I still have to get to that 'Master' and kick his ass!' Noire screeched in her mind, both confused and agitated over these experiences. She had JUSST gone through several annoying trials of her own, and because of that she had limited patience! Whatever this 'secret mission' was, she didn't see it as very important right now. Not when she had to save her people from quite possibly a gruesome death!

Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on one's perspective, the so-called 'ride' finally ended, allowing Noire the mobility she had lost before to return to her. Quickly, she found her feet to be placed on solid ground once more, so when she lowered her arm to find herself in an exact replica of the Ice Guardian's chamber, icy appearance and all. The second she made to try and find some way back to that room so she could continue her mission though… Noire became icy rigid a second later. Her hair flew about tanks to the rush of motion, but she could hardly care as it fell down to her back again, her eyes burning whilst witnessing the following sight presented before her…

… 60 Armoured Statues, each prepped with their own energy Bolts which they all fired at her.

Quickly, she made to act as they were released towards her. 'GRRRR! Fine, I don't have a choice, then! I'll just do this as quick as possible Noire activated her ZANDATSU and rolled forwards, avoiding the attacks by a hair before she got to her feet and had the technique deactivate. She then launched 2 VACUUM SLASH attacks towards the right side, where 30 Six-armed Statues prepared their second volley. Thanks to past experiences, Noire had figured out that these guys may be like Archers, but there were several key differences between them. One of them was that these Demons lacked the speed and agility an Archer would need if his position was blown, not to mention their intelligence… well, it lacked slightly, and slightly would be an understatement here.

As a result, about 15 Statues got sliced in half thanks to Noire's retaliation, whilst the rest fell to the floor, dazed and unmoving. But… she would not be finished there.

To follow up, Noire ran towards the right side while the ones still dazed couldn't do anything. Her legs ran faster than she had used them before whilst her lungs burned with rapid urgency, but she didn't care. Flipping into the air and drawing Balmung at the apex, Noire descended into a vertical downward slash which bisected one of the Statues. She then, for quickness, summoned Ashbringer in her opposite hand, before jumping over to the remaining 14 status to deliver dozens of JUDGEMENT attacks, repeatedly mixing it up with CRUSADERS STRIKE and HAMMER OF JUSTICE to keep the enemy on their toes. All the while, Noire executed the Sword Mistress Style she had developed to ruthlessly butcher the Demonic Statues before they could get any hit on her. She'd even added in her LIGHT DRIVE Skill to enhance her speed.

Having thrown away all forms of defence for the time being, including the use of the DIVINE SHIELD ability to reinforce her defensive abilities, Noire turned herself into a vicious, bloodthirsty devil, speeding through the battlefield like a living bullet, tearing through the Demons in her path without mercy. She only had the form of a pure white blur which covered the battlefield in dozens upon dozens of slashes, slashes which always hit their mark and tore through demonic metal like a hot knife through butter.

As a result, she managed to take out the first half of the 60 enemies with relative ease…

And when she defeated and killed the other half, over 120 Demons appeared.

This time however, instead of just the statues, Noire got ready and activated her FAFNIR ARMOUR, an almost draconian fury burning in her eyes which made them take the form of actual flames. Deep, glutaral growls escaped from her throat at this, al the while Balmung and Ashbringer glowed with their respective auras, Raijin appearing, connecting to her, and covering her body with Lightning sparks. She even applied DIVINE SHIELD this time alongside LIGHT DRIVE, before she jumped towards her opponents.

What could only be called a massacre followed.

* * *

About... hmm, lets say 2 hours later...

The last foe fell to Noire's HF Blade, the basic-looking weapon having been the one she had chosen later on in the fight to take out these Demons as quick as possible. Seeing that no more Waves were coming however, made the blackette feel quite relieved, as a massive exhale escaped her lips before she fell onto her knees. She jabbed her sword into the ground, allowing her hands to rest on its pommel for support whilst she leaned her forehead against it, eyes closed whilst sweat rolled down her forehead. Her FAFNIR ARMOUR's wings lowered themselves and curled around her whilst she struggled to regain her breathing, her mouth opening and closing but never completely doing either.

All around her, there lay an ocean's worth of blood, completely covering the entire floor this battle had taken place in. Dealing with the first two Waves had bee easy, as it had allowed her to largely vent her anger on some helpless enemies which had allowed her to calm down, then fight with only one of her Swords, choosing Balmung for the job. Yep, by those words, she pretty much confirmed that she had been fighting Waves upon Waves of Demons for the last 2 hours, each one having greater numbers than the last. Not only that, but the Demons got stronger and faster each time, making not taking a single hit almost excruciatingly difficult. Not to mention painful for her, as her pride refused to allow her to relax for even a moment. The words 'don't take a single hit' had repeatedly reminded her of the secret mission, if she had failed it would have bee an insult to her pride as a warrior and as a Goddess. She had to expand her Sword Mistress Style to its fullest capabilities and beyond to keep up with these guys, plus she had to utilize every technique, every weapon in her arsenal to take them all out in rapid succession.

Didn't help that each time a wave came, the stage itself grew larger and larger, till at the point of the change where it covered over 500 meters in every direction.

Thus, this massacre had lasted for 2 hours, and during the later stages she had drained both Ashbringer and Balmung of their power, so she had to rely on her Swordplay with her HF Blade, as well as her Satanic Treasure Raijin to take care of the rest. Those waves had exhausted pretty much all of her energy, leaving her running on fumes by the end, too. The last wave of course, being the most brutal with over 200,000 Demons in the Bloodthirster level to deal with. So… yeah, one could understand Noire's exhaustion. She had no doubt that if it weren't for her FAFNIR ARMOUR having helped her during this fight, she would not have made it this far, and thus would have been slighted in a nigh-irredeemable way. Still, something told her she had completed the last wave of this little 'secret mission' so she could rest easy for a short moment, recover her strength before.

'That... felt more exhausting... than I'd like to admit...' Noire thought to herself whilst her jackhammering heart began to steady itself once more, her FAFNIR ARMOUR vanishing thanks to it no longer being needed. Noire had long since discovered how her Handguns Luce and Ombra had been able to fire either normal bullets these weapons generated on their own or she could fire ones enhanced by her own energy for greater damage capacity, which had been a big reason why she had lost a lot of her power in this battle. Still, this only made the feeling of accomplishing something great that much sweeter to her, something which she couldn't help but chuckle, then explode into laughter over.

_…Noire! Its is good I can hear you again! Looks like whatever was blocking my communication has lifted... You alright, you're laughing like someone who has surrendered to madness and insanity..._

At hearing her sole companion's words after a couple hours, Noire could not help but grin to herself as her body began to recover its composure, though she didn't take any healing items just yet. 'Its okay Siegfried, I'm fine. I just got through one heck of a hard trial just now, and I still can't believe I pulled it off...' she replied to him. 'Then again, this IS me we're talking about...'

_...That confidence of yours assures me of your words. Still, this is an interesting discovery. there are a whole new set of Wards around this place, ones which were to do with transportation, transmutation and confinement. Its like that Killing Array, but the complexity seems so much greater. If the killing array was a massive lake, then this Array is like a massive ocean in terms of interlocking Wards. These creators may have been some sick bastards, but they did indeed have great skill in Wardcraft. This Tower... it looks like it has places like this where you can complete secret missions in small pocket dimensions, likely or some kind of reward or another. Even if there wasn't any kind of reward this kind of fighting experience will be invaluable for your developing sword skills. This Tower really does function for two purposes instead of just one: a mix of knowledge and confinement..._

Noire made to reply to that... when all of a sudden a loud pulse sound resounded within her mind.

BA-BUMP!

Instantly afterwards, Noire gasped, holding her head when it got accompanied by a prickling sensation just like the one which had happened when she came to this place. However, also just like before, the whole thing vanished, as information flowed into her mind... but unlike before, it felt MUCH longer than just a few seconds, and instead felt just like a while 5 minutes. Noire clutched her head this time with both hands, feeling her nails digging into her skull while this process happened to her.

Finally, when it stopped, Noire shot her eyes wide open, a startled gasp escaping her lips as another 'pulse' ran through her, signifying that the process had been completed. When it vanished, Noire quickly sat down, taking a few breaths to calm herself, before closing her eyes. Her very consciousness quickly made to examine the information she had gained, and what she saw... well, it would be safe to say that she did NOT feel prepared for what she did.

SECRET MISSION COMPLETE

ENEMY COUNT: SUFFICIENT

EXTRACTION FROM WARZONE: IMMANENT

REWARD: DRAGON FAULT

* * *

Only when Noire read this information, did the same experiences she had felt before when she came into this secret mission, happen again. Only this time, Noire found herself only feeling weightless with her ability to move intact, so when it stopped, she found herself back in that room with the elevator. Shen found herself sitting with her back facing the wall which the crystal skull had been embedded into, only this time the skull's eyes weren't glowing at all. Instead, they were blacker than the pit she had to traverse, which gave her the feeling that she wouldn't be able to step back into that space anymore.

'Wow... now THAT was something...' Noire mused mentally, making to sit up... only to stop when she saw something in front of her which should NOT have been there. Before her, embedded into the ground like a certain weapon which granted one the right to be king, was a sword... and one BIGASS Sword it was at that, she would even go as far to call it a colossal-sized one. This Colossal sword had a completely grey body, with the sword's shape being twisted into an oddly shaped dragon bone. As for the sword's tip, it impressively displayed the shape of a ferocious roaring dragon. The moment she saw the sword there, Noire instantly felt herself captivated towards it, almost like she had an affinity towards it. The entire sword seemed to radiate a powerful, immense heat like the roaring flames of a dragon, something she remained familiar with thanks to ancient Dragon monsters.

Stepping up, the blackette eyed the sword from all angles, curious as to what it was doing here. 'Hmmm... whatever this sword is, I can sense great power flowing through it. Its wild, ferocious and animalistic... kind of like the Blood which flows through me whenever I use my FAFNIR ARMOUR. So, that leaves the question: What are you...?' she wondered.

_…Interesting, indeed. Noire, this sword is not normal, just as you assume. However, its true secret lies in the fact that this sword has the soul of a Dragon sealed inside of it. I know this because I can sense the soul inside. It has already recognized you as its wielder, remember what that information said? This Sword must be the 'Dragon Fault' that it mentioned as your reward. These Secret Missions, they must reward you for clearing certain trials, tests, challenges whatever you would desire to call them. In this case, it would be wise for you to keep an eye out as you scour the Tower, for any more of these missions. If you find more of them, then you'll likely gain a whole load of benefits from it..._

'Really...? Then, if that's the case, why hasn't this so-called 'Master' not tried these challenges?'

_…I do not know. However, it would be wise to take them anyways, and reap the rewards afterwards. We can use these to further your power so you can easily defeat this master upon your meeting..._

Agreeing with her Heroic Spirit, Noire stopped her circling of the sword, before she reached out and grasped the Hilt. When she felt she had a firm grasp on the handle, Noire made to pull it out... though it wasn't completely successful. The moment she tried picking it up, Noire felt STUNNED by the sheer weight this blade had, it felt like her arms would snap at any moment as she slowly lifted the trembling sword upwards. 'So freaking heeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaavyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!' she shrieked in her mind, just barely managing to lift the sword into a horizontal pointing position before she had to give up, and let its tip embed itself into the ground. Noire, meanwhile, heaved and panted like she hadn't had a drink of water in centuries, feeling like her lungs were about to explode. 'What the freaking hell?! How the heck can one sword be so freeing heavy?!' she screamed mentally.

_…Wow. I did not expect this. From that attempt just now, I can safely assume that this sword of yours is... at LEAST 14000 Kilos in terms of weight. It is a really MASSIVE sword, so its weight must be great. Try and see if you can use your FAFNIR ARMOUR and then pick it up, that form does increase your physical ability after all__…_

'14,000 KILOS?! Geez, who the heck would make such a sword like that?!' Noire screamed back, but in the end she agreed with him, although she felt sorely tempted to not use this sword called Dragon Fault anymore as she activated the said Skill, clasping her gauntlets over the sword's handle before resuming her attempt at picking it up. Unlike before though, Noire managed to lift it into a double handed stance, not the Sword Mistress one she was used to, but she was able to lift it, albeit barely. The sword still trembled like MAD when she tried to wield it, but in terms of combat potential? Noire felt like she would need a LOT of strength improvements before she could think about using it. For now, she'll just rely on Balmung, Ashbringer and her HF Blade, those swords were the easies for her to use at her current level of strength. But still, Noire could agree wit Siegfried about the whole Secret Missions matter, if she could gain rewards from these missions, then she could further her own training.

It's with this, that Noire put the Dragon Fault Sword into her Inventory before activating the Damage Wheel, boarding the Elevator and ascending upwards.

* * *

**Chapter end**

**Whew, this one wasn't as large as the other chapters, but it was still fun to write. I've played the game I'm using for inspiration up to a point, so I might just make an overview of what happens beyond that point, I'm not sure. However, the secret missions thing in here is a call to the game as well. The game has secret missions which you have to find and beat to earn fragments which bestow upon you an increased healthbar. I just changed it into different items stored within the Tower which Noire can find and earn if she beats the missions. These items may or may not be usable for the current her though, and the reason for this is because I'm setting up future plans for her development later on in the main timeline. Believe me, Noire took what happened at Halo Mountain to HEART, which is why she is in a desire to get stronger, so she isn't that useless again. After all, out of the four, Noire is really the most level headed and leaderlike Goddess in canon, I'm just using that as a reason for a lot of traits developing in Noire's Character. That, and she will have to FIND these secret mission areas and win the trials, which I may or may not make harder than in DMC 3 canon.**


	11. Chapter 11 - Two ANNOYING Demons!

**Chapter 11 - Two ANNOYING Demons!**

Not long did Noire have to wait for the elevator to reach the top, not long at all, which she found fairly pleasant. It wasn't often that they took the amount of time this one did, and since she had nobody but herself, it went straight to the top. Well, there wasn't ALWAYS just herself, Noire would have smacked herself for that little fib, as (expectedly) during that time she had to fight against a bunch of Demons which wanted to take her head. There weren't that many though in each wave, at most 4 to 5, even 6 at one point. This had confused Noire at first, but when she felt the elevator start slowing down did she realize i: the combined weight would gradually slow it to a halt, maybe even force it back down to the bottom. That wouldn't be allowed, Noire felt, so she instead killed the Demons before they could grow too numerous. Fighting so few however was as easy as taking a breath to her, after having been forced to fight against huge waves before in that secret missions' waves.

Once she reached the top however, the blackette reached a walkway which lead to an outside corridor. This let her, once she had walked out into it, see into the city below her, the city which she had risked everything to come here. "You know something Siegfried…" she began barely above a whisper, her eyes shining with a melancholic light as she eyed the city. She put her hands on the stone wall which served the purpose of stopping her from falling over, eyeing the city sadly. "Seeing Lastation as silent as this… it gives off the exact opposite feeling compared to its normal state. I… don't like it, Lastation right now feels almost lifeless, like all its energy has been sapped dry, like a vampire has drained it of all its lifeblood. Are you sure the citizens are alright? These Demons aren't out to kill them are they?"

_…It is not likely that this is the case. The Demons have concentrated themselves in this Tower thanks to your presence, it seems. Apparently, they were drawn to you before you even entered this Temen-Ni-Gru, if you had searched for anyone who could possibly resist the spell blanketing Lastation, you would have done more harm than good. In a way, this is a lucky break for you, as a leader perhaps it would have been better if you did focus on finding survivors. However, that would not have solved the problem, and now that we know what we do it would have needlessly put innocents at risks. Still, I can relate to this feeling you feel, as I myself do not like this spell either. We will break it though, Noire, should we meet the one who cast it and defeat them. Only then will the people wake up…_

Hearing that filled Noire with a sense of relief, knowing that her people would be alright in the long run. She figured that they wouldn't know of what was happening currently, and to Noire herself this felt like an optimal solution. She didn't want to cause them needless panic, instead she would rather they focus on fixing Lastation and surpassing their original glory. However, there was one thing on her mind when she heard the words Siegfried said. 'Yeah… though, I wonder, is killing the caster, if it's a Heroic Spirit, really the right thing to do? What I mean is, if we kill the caster before all this mess with the Temen-Ni-Gru is resolved, people will take one look at it and mass panic will ensue. Especially when they see Demons in their midst. So…'

What Noire was trying to say, was that she felt like killing the caster should remain at the bottom of the priority list, and only be done once she had resolved the situation with the Temen-Ni-Gru, as well as whoever was the mastermind behind all of this. Noire didn't want to alarm her people any more than necessary, and who knows what the other Nations may think of this matter should they learn of this. It could set a bad example for her people, which could negatively impact the future in an unknown number of ways. She didn't want that, so she feared killing the caster before the correct time presented itself may end up backfiring on her.

_… You do have a point, Noire. This spell is cast over the entire city, not just these slums. Everyone is in a blissful sleep-like state right now, so if they wake up and see something like this, questions will be asked. Asked towards you, that is, and you won't be there to answer them thanks to settling matters here. I can see the danger, however we should make sure we know more about this spell first, so perhaps interrogating the caster before we decide his or her fate would be a wise move. However, that is up to you, I will not instruct you on how to guide your nation for you. My kingdom is no more, I can only teach you what I know so you don't make the same mistakes…_

"Yeah… your right, Siegfried. Thanks…" by the end of this conversation, Noire did feel quite better about herself, and her choices. She still felt like she could do more, but she suppressed it for the time being. She had to make sure to get this stuff done as soon as possible so she could perform damage control in the aftermath. Though, considering this and the zombie invasion from before, this seemed much smaller in scale in comparison. With that in mind, Noire continued walking down the corridor, coming to a set of doors which lead further into the demonic Tower.

Entering through the massive red doors, Noire came to a large, square-shaped room. The room itself looked pretty spacious, with a large floor that had four flat spots which looked like they were once places for pillars, arranged to form the corners of a square. Ahead, was a tall door which had two TALL statues, tall enough to reach ¾ of the room's total height. The whole place, just like the other rooms Noire had visited thus far, had been lit up by torch light, with this one being no exception. It did its job well though, casting a dark, ominous and dangerous atmosphere… even though Noire had already been here for a while so she had gotten used to it.

Sometimes though, Noire had to wonder…

Did Demons ever NOT take themselves so seriously?

Thinking back on it…

Maybe not.

Wow… these guys could learn a thing or two about how to be more laid back, seriously, geez.

The blackette walked slowly inside, gradually getting the sense that there was danger coming her way so she drew out her Balmung. All the while, she searched around by glancing to and fro, her crimson eyes shining with weariness whilst her footsteps remained audible throughout the short trek. They practically filled the entire room with their presence, giving Noire the impression this place had about the same hollow-like feeling as the building's structure. 'I can sense Demonic Power in the atmosphere… looks like I'm about to hit a boss battle soon enough.' She thought to herself, scowling as she mentally prepared herself.

Siegfried said nothing, but instead hummed in agreement. Balmung trembled in her grip.

By the time she had reached the centre of the room…

**"LOOK brother! Its BEEN ages, BUT we FINALLY have COMPANY! A woman, AT that!"**

**"I see THAT! A young, ATTRACTIVE woman, BROTHER! We MUST entertain OUR GUEST!"**

Two voices spoke up in tandem with each other, causing Noire to halt her steps and look around for the source. She didn't take that long though, due to finding them atop the massive statues, but she couldn't make out what the voices were.

One of them felt quite… well, literally like a fierce flame which burned everything in its path. It felt like someone who was hot-headed, loud-mouthed and didn't have any tact when in complicated situations.

As for the other voice, it stood as a stark contrast to the first one, as this one sounded cool, calm and collected. She attributed it to a calm breeze blowing through the vicinity, quietly and gently compared to the fierceness of the first voice.

Still, whilst pride surged forth within her being at being found attractive, it diminished slightly when she realized that such praise came from Demons.

**"WHAT should WE do?"**

**"HOW do I know? WE need TO come UP with SOMETHING!"**

Still, Noire didn't want to dawdle around here, she was in a hurry after all. Her agitation with these Demons gradually grew as the seconds passed, their mixed voices grating on her nerves the more she heard them. Noire may be used to hearing all kinds of different voices from her staff back in the Basilicom, but for some reason even the slimiest, scummiest members paled in comparison to these two.

Thus, this resulted in the black-haired CPU beginning to lose her patience in waiting for these Demons to finish their little spiel, and come down here already. At this point however, her mind concluded these Demons would likely take forever if she didn't take them down soon enough, so Noire groaned in annoyance, placing her hands on her hips as she began pacing about, trying to control her temper.

**"look BROTHER, our GUEST is GROANING."**

**"GROAN? What IS groan?"**

**"WELL, a GROAN is WHEN…"**

Okay, NOW Noire's fuse exploded within her mind. Quickly, she unholstered Luce and Ombra, twirling them around her fingers by their trigger guards before aiming and letting loose a couple bullets. Each one flew into the space where the voices came from with two loud BANG sounds. "Enough already! Ugh, you two are so IRRITATING!" She exclaimed, her outburst surprising the two Demons and shutting them up. Thank god, but it wasn't like Noire was finished with them just yet. "Can't you two READ the situation here?! How long are you two boneheads going to yap on like a pair of old ladies sitting in a park?!" She shouted further, though she didn't get a response from them. "If you still haven't gotten the hint yet, I'll be like those tutorial menus and fill you two in: Your 'GUEST' wants to go through, GOT IT?!"

Finally done with her mini charade just now, Noire stopped speaking and begun heaving, having said all that whilst in one whole breath. Thus, she needed to regain her composure a little bit there. 'You know, in hindsight, perhaps insulting two prideful yet annoying Demons that I will be killing soon MAY not have been the best idea.' A part of her, which she had kept suppressed for the duration of her rant, thought to herself.

Still, her rant seemed to have worked, if what happened next was any indication. Rumbling sounds filled the room, causing tremors to shake it to its foundations. However, Noire didn't let that stop her, instead she kept her balance before hopping back, flipping backwards whilst tossing her twin Handguns into the air. She landed about 13 meters away from her original position. All the while, two clouds of dust formed atop the statues, which signified to Noire how these two Demons had begun to move.

**"Yes… THAT is CORRECT! Thank YOU, guest, FOR reminding US! Brother! OUR duty IS to GUARD this DOOR!"**

**"AGREED, brother! GUEST, we CANNOT let YOU pass!"**

**(Play OST - Devil May Cry 3 Soundtrack - Agni & Rudra Battle)**

Both Demons launched a pair of loud war cries as a pair of blues slammed into the ground before her. Now that she could see them though, as Noire entered her Sword Mistress Stance with Balmung, she saw that these two Demons… took the form of two, headless muscular 'macho' humanoids. Each of them had armour over their waists, thighs, and arms. Each form also seemed to wield a uniquely shaped scimitar with jagged edges, one being crimson like the body holding it, and the same for the other only with a blue colour scheme. The blades looked to have segments appearing to interlock like a Celtic knot, while their ends looked slightly jagged but not pointed as a normal blade would be. The pommels formed these weird-looking… "heads", and the guards of both are round and plain. Noire got the suspicion that it was the heads on the swords which spoke, which told her a few things.

The most important being…

That as cliché as it sounded, the battle had finally begun.

To Start, Noire glanced upwards to see her Guns still flipping through the air, whilst sensing her opponents charging at her. An idea shot through her mind, to which Noire smirked to herself. She had a WHOLE load of agitation to vent onto these two, and they were going to freaking LIKE it! This in mind, Noire bent her legs before breaking into a mad sprint, closing the distance between the three of them rapidly. Right as they were about to collide however, with the two Demons swinging their swords (which they held in opposing hands, Noire realized), towards her head, Noire reacted. She flipped herself forwards over their weapons, which sailed through empty air instead, before landing on top of one and using him as a Springboard to jump up towards her guns. She flipped backwards constantly as she tossed Balmung down like a Javelin mid-flip. This allowed her to impale the back of the blue humanoid, knocking him down to the ground whilst she grabbed her guns in mid-air, twisting so she remained in an upright position before unleashing a hailstorm of rapid-fire bullet barrage upon the red Demon.

In Response to this, the Red Demon quickly used its sword arm to block the bullets, but the barrage managed to make it stumble backwards anyways. Looked like even though Luce and Ombra specialized in rapid fire barrages which could kill weaker Demons, stronger ones had better resistance to their bullets. Good to note for the future, Noire felt, as she prepared herself for landing, before she noticed another alarming danger. Whilst she had been falling, the Blue Demon, with Balmung still impaling its back, got back up and rushed towards her landing spot, thrusting its sword where it predicted her torso would be in the next few seconds. If this attack hit, she would have an abundance of blood explode out of her stomach as well as her mouth, whilst the injury itself would have been a near fatal one which would have impeded her combat potential. It wasn't like she could dodge unless she activated her FAFNIR ARMOUR and flew away, but with the rate she was falling Noire doubted she'd have enough time to escape unscathed.

Thus, she went with option B.

With calculated timing which only someone with as much finesse as her could pull off, Noire instead fired at the ground where she landed, slowing her landing so that when the sword met where her Abdomen would have been… instead, she landed on top of the blade's backedge, perfectly balancing herself on it. The head on the blade's pommel looked like it got surprised from this when it saw it, but Noire didn't pay attention to it, instead she flipped over the Blue Demon whilst firing her left Gun, Ombra, into the space where its head would have been. As for the right one, Luce, she holstered it so, during her descent behind it, she could grasp Balmung's handle and yank it out, causing a massive bloody horizontal wound to erupt from its body. Blood exploded outwards like a geyser, splattering against the ground whilst the Demon stumbled forwards, caught off balance by it.

Danger senses kicked in beside her, and Noire barely raised her Balmung in time to block… what looked to have been a massive sword slash wreathed in flames, the size of which could rival an entire limb's worth, lengthwise too. 'Whoa! So, the redone manipulates fire, huh? Guess the other one manipulates wind?' Noire hypothesized, though she internally corrected herself when, once it turned to face her, the Blue Demon swung its blade and launched a massive Tornado towards her. 'No, wind. Alright, fire, and wind, while I use lightning…'

_…A dangerous combination Noire. Fire and Wind work well together, one controls air currents and the other can fan the flames to greater intensity. Be wary of any combination attacks…_

'You read my mind, Siegfried…' she thought back to her Heroic Spirit, cutting the connection when she had to bend backwards. Lest she wanted to get her head decapitated when the Red Demon sped on by, swinging at her neck. Using the position to her advantage, Noire back flipped into the air, before coming down on a slash to the Demon's headless area, believing that to be its weak spot. Unfortunately, that turned out to be a mistake, as the sword it carried was quickly swung to counter her smash, both weapons colliding to result in a POWERFUL shockwave. One which blew Noire back about 23 meters. Basically, she got sent flying across the room, with both Demons charging towards her together. 'Wait, these two… they're freaking ninja running!'

Indeed, as they charged at her Noire noticed these two moved like the Ninjas from that shounen magazine, somersaulting into the air before coming down on her position. Unfortunately for her, Noire didn't have the kind of Physical strength needed to block a strike like that, so instead she activated her ZANDATSU and jumped forwards, rolling several times till she had cleared about 6 meters, before using the momentum to get back to her feet and twist around to face her enemies, all in one fluid motion. Yeah, Noire moved with quite the significant grace in combat, even if her physical strength may need to get a boost somehow in the future.

**"This WOMAN is STRONG, brother!"**

**"YES, she IS, brother!"**

**"WE must COMMEND her FOR her STRENGTH!"**

**"Still, WE cannot LET her PASS!"**

**"Right!"**

'Ugh, even in battle, those two yammer on!'

Noire seriously debated just activating a Twilight Wave to try and shut them up, consequences be damned.

Twirling around to face her, both the Demons before her, didn't let up on their assaults either. Both of them madly sprinted towards her like a pair of angry bulls, the red Demon's Sword became wreathed in demonic flames. Tongues of it arcing around its blade like a concentrated inferno of malice. Enough to melt half of this entire room thanks to the scorching heat. As it swung towards her middle region, Noire hopped forwards, twisting into a side slash which cut through it's weapon shoulder easily. She then landed on one hand, performing a handstand whilst throwing Balmung into the air with her other hand. She quickly caught it in between her legs and had it block a slash from the follow-up slash from the Blue Demon.

Noire, after this happened, immediately flipped into the air before switching her grip on Balmung from her legs to her right hand, twisting around in mid-air and launching a series of VACUUM SLASH attacks, keeping her opponents from chasing after her. The Blue Demon quickly stepped between them and its red brother, before the sword around it became engulfed in a vicious, hurricane gale which it used to generate a defensive tornado around itself, blocking the attack. Still, served the purpose of halting them as Noire slid across the ground to a halt. She didn't let this be the end though, quickly breaking the ground beneath her feet whilst jumping to the side, making to break into a sprint before switching to a side slide, bending her head backwards to avoid a fiery red blade from, well... helping her get a head.

Ugh, puns aside, the blackette stepped back several times before she jumped towards it, spinning like a sausage through the air to avoid a slash from the Blue Demon before flipping forwards, slamming Balmung into the Red Demon's sword. The strength she had built up managed to break the ground beneath it the moment their blades clashed, before the two weapons repelled each other and sent their wielders flying. Flipping backwards before she could land though, Noire bounced straight back by launching a VACUUM SLASH behind her like an aerial draft, twisting her body into a reverse horizontal slash, one which to her joy, the Demon couldn't block in time. As a result...

SCHING!

SPLATTER!

It became so silent at that moment, one could easily hear a pin drop. That silence got ruined though, by the sounds of blood splattering against the ground got released, following the severing of the Red Demon's arm. All the while, the useless limb fell to the ground without even making the SLIGHTEST of sounds. Noire quickly landed on the ground, twirling around to face her enemy whilst assuming her stance. 'There!' the blackette thought, a victorious smirk forming on her lips at the sight. 'Shame that guy managed to switch hands at the last second, so I couldn't initiate any followups. Now that I've severed its arm though, I'll be able to kill that Demon easier and then...!'

_...Noire, above you!..._

'Eh?!' Glancing up thanks to her Heroic Spirit, Noire gasped when she saw BOTH Demons somersaulting into the air, before coming down on her with rapid fire speed. Their blades both were engulfed in their own respective elements, fire and wind which kept fueling each other's intensity. Noire quickly responded by activating her ZANDATSU to give her a quicker reaction time, before hopping away lest she get herself smashed and burned at the same time. She didn't like the thought of flames touching her skin, she burned easily, never tanned.

Just afterwards, did the ability wear off, so the two Demons only hit the space she had once been. Whilst the two Demons raced towards her with the intent of hacking away at her, which they begun in the next second showing off their high speed, Noire quickly shifted into a defensive version of the Sword Mistress Style at the last second. This allowed her to block, parry and dodge their swings with royal grace, testing her flexibility to its limits as she weaved in and out of their strikes whilst delivering strikes of her own to their legs. Not to mention, with her proficiency with her VIBRATION ATTACK Skill, the technique involving sending vibrations through her sword into the weapons of her opponent to damage their bodies internally, Noire felt like she had been dishing out way more damage than the Demons had.

Yet, no matter how many times Balmung attacked them, these two bodies just kept coming at her, not letting up in their assault in the slightest! Furthermore, each of them kept launching one volley of wind and/or fire attack after another against her, forcing Noire to keep on her toes It really pissed Noire off, though beneath that she harbored an ocean of concern. 'This isn't good, no matter how many hits I land, small or large, these guys just don't stay down! Their Teamwork isn't that bad, either, its like they know what the other is thinking before even making the move! Since i'm on the defensive now, I can't unleash any big attacks, too. Even if I could, I risk destroying this place, and i'd rather not use my FAFNIR ARMOUR right now. What to do...!'

Just then, Noire had to raise Balmung and pump energy into it, causing the blade to gain a dull white glow which blocked both the flames as well as the gale force winds from the Demon swords at the same time. Noire felt her legs buckle from the combined impacts, as well as a 8 meter large crater which formed around her, nearly causing her to blanch at the strength these Demons had. Fortunately, the ground around her had a strong materiel, otherwise she could envision herself and the other Demons falling through the tower down to the very bottom. Just then, Noire caught sight of something flying from their weapons at the points of their collision... which turned out to be Sparks.

'Sparks...? Wait, that's it!'

Realization released itself through her mind as Noire found herself forming an epiphany. Lightning! That could help her, since she had a Lightning attributed Satanic Treasure! Not only that, but thinking back on her previous instances with striking and colliding with these guys, Noire had noticed that despite lacking heads the bodies functioned just like an ordinary one should. That meant they had a Nerves system, which was basically one big mass of electrical impulses. If she could channel her Lightning, even better if she amplified it with ELECTRO CHARGE, then she could potentially short circuit them and leave them out of commission!

'Its worth a shot, at least!'

With this plan formed, Noire quickly dodged another volley of wind blades by flipping through the air, somersaulting repeatedly before she landed, then jumped back again to avoid an overhead fiery sword attack. Noire ended up flipping backwards to landing on a wall, causing cracks to spread across it from where she hit, before she bounced back, heading towards the flame Demon. With her blade glowing, Noire reared it back for a swing, ending up colliding with the Demon's flaming blade, and just when it reared its other fist back for a punch...

Noire quickly acted.

"Go, Raijin! ELECTRO CHARGE!"

The black-haired CPU howled as she summoned her Satanic Treasure, letting it connect to her whilst amping it with her Skill. This resulted in an EXPLOSION of Lightning which erupted from the Satanic Treasure's form, and for a brief moment Noire heard a monster's howl come from it. Afterwards though, the blackette shook her head and looked towards her target, which seemed to mimic someone being electrocuted fairly well with dozens of sparks flying across its form. The Demonic red humanoid body stumbled backwards a few times, still erratically jerking itself like crazy, before... at last, it fell to the ground, motionless.

"Huff... huff... Looks like I did it..." Noire muttered, both pleased and fatigued at the same time. That had been a risky gamble, especially with the threat of being burned by those flames. In some ways, Lightning created flames, like when it hit wood. She wouldn't lie (in her mind at least), that she feared more flames would have been made for that Demon, but it turned out not to be the case. Thus, she had defeated one opponent, now all she had to do would be to defeat the other with the same method... at least, that was what she felt, before she saw what happened next.

**"BROTHER!"**

**"I am FINE, brother! MY host, HOWEVER, is DONE!"**

**"So IT would SEEM! Come THEN, brother! LET us UNITE! We CAN work TOGETHER to DEFEAT this WARRIOR!"**

**"Yes, BROTHER!"**

'Uhhhh, did those two... say what I think they did...?' Noire thought, a slight pit of dread forming in the depths of her stomach as she quickly moved towards the crimson sword with an electricity-clad Balmung. She tried to destroy it, even used her ZANDATSU to slow time down to give her more of an opening, however the moment she had been about to swing... a blast of flames erupted before her and forced her back, allowing the crimson sword to flip itself OUT of the ground like a plant being uprooted... right into the waiting outstretched hand of the blue headless Demon. With bot swords, engulfed in their own elements, in hand the Blue Demon banged the heads together, before performing a series of CQC katas for duel swords, proving its competency in that field. This served to make Noire's brow twitch madly, especially since she realized that her previous plan had somewhat backfired on her, instead of weakening the enemy she had only made them stronger.

_…It would be wise to consider going all out now. Activate the power of the FAFNIR ARMOUR, summon Ashbringer. It seems they will be needed for you to triumph..._

Adhering to the advice of Siegfried, Noire nodded as she did those following things, holding both swords in her hands whilst spreading her large dragon wings in a threatening position. All the while, she activated her LIGHT DRIVE and DIVINE SHIELD for further enhancement. ELECTRO CHARGE and Raijin installed powerful yet volatile Lightning over her swords too, making her look less like a goddess and more of a lightning attributed dragon warrior. A warrior about to jump into the battlefield and cause utter havoc. Glaring with her draconian eyes towards the Demon holding the two swords, Noire gave a loud battle cry, her legs bending before she dashed into a sprint, leaving two foot-sized craters where she stood. Her movements, fast as lightning like they were, never left the gazes of the two swords as the body wielding them dashed right back, both of them colliding into a festival of slashes.

SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH!

Sounds of slashing filled the air, as well as many flashes which could only have come from blades colliding. Both sides, Noire's Ashbringer and Balmung, as well as the duel flame and gale swords, rammed into one another like angry bulls, determined to dominate the other with sparks flying in such high numbers that it could have been mistaken for a firework show. Not to mention, these slashes rung about within a large space, almost resembling a dome between these two fighters whilst they duked it out in a fast, furious manner, resembling two lions fighting over a territorial dispute.

Finally, both sides clashed together, and everything else around them ceased to be, so if anyone watched them, they would realize that they had been moving so fast that they'd made those slashes and other phenomenon appear. As the two grinded against one another, Noire grunted whilst lightning Sparks few freely, easily batted away from the Demon by the combination of fire and wind. 'Tch, this is not good, I can't get a lead on this guy! Those swords aren't exposing any openings!' She realized, as throughout that skirmish of theirs, not ONE of her attacks towards the body's vital areas had managed to land, all the while some of its had landed on her body. Fortunately she had the FAFNIR ARMOUR activated, or she would have been dead by this point.

**"HAHAHAHAHAHA! Yes! BROTHER, this WARRIOR is FUN!"**

**"Indeed, BROTHER! This WARRIOR has SKILL! It HAS been TOO long SINCE we LAST fought THIS hard!"**

'These guys sure love to run their mouth...' Noire thought, scowling mentally as she activated her ZANDATSU after throwing her arms upwards, bringing both blades down in an x to try and slash him whilst the ability remained active. Unfortunately for her, however, Noire failed to notice the bright glow of the crimson sword, which caused her to not only jump back when flames erupted from it in an explosive inferno, but also disable her ability as well. ZANDATSU was always quite a draining Skill, even after she had trained it this thoroughly, so she didn't let it remain active for long, just quick bursts. As she slid to a halt across the ground, digging her feet in to quicken the process, Noire looked up to glare at her opponent... only to see several spinning blades of wind shoot through the raging inferno towards her.

Quickly, she spread her wings and took flight, avoiding the blades and circling around to where she floated behind the blue Demon. She would have performed a reverse circular manoeuvre like that aerial ace move from pocketed monstrosities (something which seemed to be quite popular in Lowee, according to some articles she had once read), but then the blue Demon Host had launched itself into a somersault backwards, intending to cannonball right into her. 'Whoa!' Quickly reacting to this, Noire swiftly circled around it, using the momentum to twirl into a reverse diagonal VACUUM SLASH attack from Balmung, then a HAMMER OF JUSTICE from Ashbringer.

Upon its landing, the Demon reacted to this threat thanks to it being seen by the swords (which Noire correctly assumed were controlling the body and acted as surveillance to it), by quickly launching a tornado of wind before it then jumping away, the tornado successfully blocking the attack due to being a stronger wind. Not letting this chance go, the Demon clutched the dual swords it wielded, before jumping towards Noire and spinning through the air like a disk top. When it closed the distance between them, it came out into a double slash with the fiery sword first. Noire managed to twist herself in the same direction though, which allowed her to parry and deflect it away with Ashbringer, so when the wind sword followed suit she used Balmung to block it.

Both struggled for dominance in the air for a time, completely at an impasse. Despite Noire having the wings of a dragon coming out her back, nothing she could do would make the creature budge from it's position. She figured that the wind sword was responsible somehow, but didn't put too much thought into it. She couldn't even use her previous strategy with Raijin, since they would likely pick up on it this time as, during this battle, she had seen that their annoyance didn't make their intelligence that of a toddler. In combat, she may as well be fighting an intelligent master of the battlefield, something which she got from their many clashes which forced her to grit her teeth as she tried coming up with a new strategy against her opponent.

After a short moment, both of them kicked off one another, shooting towards the ground before going straight for one another. As they did, Noire wondered how she could defeat this enemy, racking her brain for any details she could do. 'The only thing I can think of is to use my ZANDATSU to slow everything around me, then strike at any exposed openings. But when I do that, that flame sword's going to sense it and unleash that inferno thing, again! Then, that gale sword's going to launch wind blades in my direction! What to do...'

A part of her wanted to take the same risk she had taken with fighting the Cerberus back in the chamber, however Noire refused that notion. As much as she would want to, she didn't wish to destroy the tower and everything around her, she didn't want to endanger the lives of her people. As such, the blackette felt like she had to come up with an alternative solution.

Once the two broke away, the eyes of the two swords flashed, making Noire's own widen in silent realization 'Oh shit, looks like they're pulling something big!' she thought frantically in her mind. She soon got proven right when, in that one instant, flames and winds ROARED to life from the swords, increasing their size to that of an average car whilst the swords themselves howled from the power they exuded right now. Raising both enlarged blades, the body wielding them smashed both down on Noire's position too fast for her to react in time. The only thing she could do? Shield herself with her wings.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

In that instant, everything in the room got covered when a massive explosion shook it, filling the room with smoke so thick that one wouldn't be able to see their own hand. Winds and flames coursed through the area in some strange mix, turning the whole area into a paradise of both elements, flames dancing along the ground whilst winds swept through the air like dozens of blades at once. I complete paradox, one could consider the state the room had transformed into as a result of the twin swords' attack.

"COUGH, COUGH, COUGH...!"

A hand swept through horizontally, blowing the smoke away from its owner to reveal Noire... heaving like mad, partially transformed back into her human state. She only had half her suit on with her armour badly damaged, one wing left, and her body looked to be covered with all kinds of different burns as well as cuts from the wind. Not only that, but both her suit and what could be seen of her original outfit had been damaged badly, torn to shreds like dozens of vicious wolves had tried to destroy it. Blood trailed down the side of her head from a space just above the eyebrow, causing a trial of blood to run down and cover her eye, forcing it shut as she glared with her sole draconian eye towards her opponent's position.

She had not been able to successfully block that strike, it seemed.

Glaring through the smoke, Noire could see it through the smoke as a vague silhouette, just standing there, seemingly revelling in its victory. 'That asshole... I swear, I will utterly RIP this guy APART for forcing me int this state...!' Noire screamed within her mind, a draconian fury bubbling inside her being right now. Her eyes almost began to glow with fiery murderous intent, grittingher teeth so hard that they might shatter under the strain. 'Still, with this smoke, it feels like the enemy assumes me to be down... I can use this to catch them off guard...' she thought to herself, forcing her mind to think rationally still lest it lose itself within this inferno of hatred roaring within her.

But, how could she attack? Her body wasn't in a state where it would be able to fight much longer, not like this. She'd have to disable her FAFNIR ARMOUR after this last attack, since she'd no longer be able to retain it otherwise. If only she could go HDD, THAT would give her the strength she could have used to end this early! Though, Noire pushed that complaint down and focused on finding a solution, she just had to think of one. All enemies had a weakness, so she critically analysed the battle from her own perspective, then an outside one. She memorized everything to a T, down to the tiniest movement for a solution, then compounded the data into her mind.

Whilst she did this... an idea sprang forth within her mind!

'Of course! Why didn't I notice this sooner?!' The blackette thought whilst a small, evil smile formed over her lips. She didn't notice this, but behind her a flash of a dark malice appeared, before it vanished the next second.

* * *

**"BROTHER... this HAS been ONE enjoyable FIGHT..."**

**"You ARE indeed CORRECT, brother. SHAME such a WARRIOR had to FALL today."**

**"SHAME it IS, brother..."**

Standing within the smoke, both swords glowed with the light of their victory, having found themselves confident in their victory against their opponent. They didn't believe she had survived one bit, not at all, and why would they? Both swords had released an EXTRODINARY amount of power just now, an amount which if used recklessly would have annihilated the entire tower had they not directed it to one point. Both Swords were Demon Swords, they were sentient Satanic Treasures with great powers over the flame and the gale. If any were to try and pass through their gate, then they would have to face their wrath, despite how much the two argued like the siblings they were with one another.

Both swords had been sealed here for as long as they could recall... which had been back in the DPU Era. They remembered it well, using their supreme powers and teamwork to devastate armies of enemies in their path to glory. They recalled burning Demon Princes alive, chopping others up and laying waste to countless human populations. They'd been called the 'swords of ruination' back then, and their reputation due to their exploits made many tremble in fear of them. DPUs even regarded them warily though the stronger ones always wanted a piece of them on the battlefield, which was something both swords enjoyed immensely. Having such exalted powers take an interest in them made them both grow way beyond confident in their powers, so they would go and challenge any kind of DPU who would happen across them.

Though, that had ended when they met one DPU who just happened to be strolling by...

What that DPU's appearance looked like had faded from their memories at this point, but they could remember his name well, for this DPU had sealed them within the Temen-Ni-Gru for over 30 trillion years. It would only be natural for them to want to see the outside world again. As they had faced this recent opponent though, they had finally felt like they had a possibility of escaping their current fate, especially with the elements they'd sensed bubbling within her: Divinity, draconic, demonic, the winds of change swirled around her in their eyes, making them get their hopes up.

Alas, it was not to be...

Or so they thought.

"GOTCHYA!"

**"?!/?!"**

Both swords gasped when, from their rear flank, the damaged but not yet downed 'opponent' that they had been talking about just now suddenly appeared, her guns Luce and Ombra having been drawn and opened fire on their asses. Well, not really the ass, but actually the areas round their eyes. As a result. both swords grunted and closed their eyes to protect them, since they knew well the history behind those guns and thus didn't want to lose their eyesight.

Exactly what Noire had planned.

Appearing behind them with her FAFNIR ARMOUR gone, the blackette quickly engaged her ZANDATSU, slowing time around her whilst she aimed her dual and guns and shot the swords out of the body's hands. Switching to Balmung and empowering it with ELECTRO CHARGE, Noire promptly went to town on the body, rapidly swinging it with a vicious assault of slashes which focused on severing the body parts, all before laying the smackdown on the main body. That, and since the swords were in the air, spinning like freaking beyblades whilst under ZANDATSU's influence... they could do nothing but watch. Especially when Noire pumped Raijin up and discharged a massive blast of lightning, one which incinerated what remained of the body to dust leaving them with no body to use for their powers.

Seeing this, both blades instantly felt it: this would be the end of the fight.

This warrior had won...

She had won without any kind of rebuttal.

And it felt GLORIOUS.

**(OST END)**

* * *

"Haa… Haaa… haaaaa…"

Sweat rolled down her forehead whilst Noire raised her free hand, taking out some healing items from her Inventory and ingesting them. After she found herself back in presentable condition (having swapped out her outfits quickly so nobody could see, so she now wore a duplicate of her outfit undamaged), Noire took a look at her supply, and mentally smiled to herself. 'Seems like my supply's still good. I have enough on me to keep me going through the rest of the Tower, I hope...' she thought to herself. This marked another one of the few times she had to use healing items at the end of a battle, and whilst it wasn't anything major to heal, she didn't want to know what it would be like to run out of supplies. THAT just reminded her of what happened to a few rookie Guild Agents who felt WAY too cocky about a seemingly harmless mission to procure the necessary equipment before hand... nobody wanted to end up like how they did.

Still, this battle had been a close one, not to mention a difficult battle. She had almost lost it there with that last attack, not to mention the swordsmanship that this Demon pair displayed far surpasses her own. The way one blade move so fiercely, as if its very nature would have been able to match a blazing inferno, whilst another moved with such quick, agile lethality that it felt like the winds themselves bit down on her flesh... these two swords had such technique which felt like it had been honed over countless battles of life or death. Noire easily felt this during their scuffles, her own Sword Mistress Style feeling way too inferior to the practiced technique these guys had. Then again, she could see why, if it was true that this tower existed many years ago, as in the DPU Era, then these Demons MUST have been from that time period too. She still didn't know too much about that era, save from the talk she had with Cerberus, but she hadn't been all that shocked that it existed. Seriously, she'd seen enough living proof of that already.

'Now that its over though, I'll be able to move on through this darned tower...' Noire thought with a triumphant look in her eyes, stepping towards the door. Now that she had defeated her opposition, there was no way they would be able to stop her progress any further. After all, they may be powerful swords, but if they needed large bodies like that, then they definitely would be powerless without them. With that in mind, Noire sheathed Balmung onto her back, sighing softly whilst muttering "glad that's over..." under her breath when she felt the sword's familiar weight resting on her back. Carrying this thing around so much, gave her a sense of understanding tot hose kinds of warriors she'd seen in Leanbox who did the same thing, even though Inventories existed in this world. There was just something so... comforting, about having a massive weapon on your back able to be drawn at any time if one is skilled enough.

**"WAIT!"**

**"Yes, WAIT!"**

"Geez, you guys seriously need to...!" Noire growled as she turned to look at them. Didn't they realize she had defeated them, what was the point of talking to her now? That was what she thought. Having to listen to these two annoying demons ramble on like they had really grinded on her nerves, especially since she was in a hurry to get through this tower to find whoever it was that had challenged her. When she made to voice these feelings of irritation bubbling inside, the blackette remained unable to. Simply due to the fact that the swords had begun talking again.

**"WE have been WAITING for A LONG time!"**

**"YES, a VERY long TIME!"**

**"For SOMEONE stronger than US!"**

**"Someone WHO can CONTROL us!"**

**"MY name is AGNI!"**

**"I am RUDRA!"**

**"You SHALL take US along WITH you!"**

**"We CAN be of GREAT help to YOU!"**

Just when she made to say something back, Noire stopped when her mind processed completely what these two had just said. Take them along with her? Did that really come out of their mouths? The thought of having two annoying swords for companions in this place really bothered her, especially since they liked to nag and nag all the damn time. It felt to her like she had two Neptune's to deal with, which sounded like hell itself, especially since she knew how bad ONE of them was from experience... although, annoyance felt much better than outright malice. That opinion came from knowing how she had been like in the past.

Still, the possibilities which could come from having these dual Swords as weapons did tempt her, if only a little. Noire wouldn't lie and say she didn't want power, the power to protect her people from any and all threats to Lastation. Threats which had been gathering all around Gamindustri from the stars as of late, what with al he Demons and the Abnormals. Not to mention she knew how powerful these Demonic weapons could be when she thought about other Devil Arms she had seen in action, like that one Rebellion sword or those Ebony and Ivory Guns. Thus, she found herself in a dilemma of what to do, she couldn't outright refuse since well she did indeed want their power at the end of the day, there was no denying that. Without strength, one truly cannot protect anything, she knew this lesson for a fact already. Even Siegfried had hammered this lesson home, like Mundus hadn't done so before. But, she didn't want to deal with their constant banter since she felt like she would go insane by the end of the day.

However, in the next few seconds, her decision got WAY easier.

**"YOU have MANY weapons, MANY powers at your DISPOSAL! We SEE that NOW."**

**"We CAN offer YOU our ESSENCE, which CAN imbue YOU with POWERS beyond IMAGINING!"**

**"You ALSO gain our COMBAT KNOWLEDGE, refining YOUR sword ABILITIES further, ALONGSIDE newer ELEMENTS!"**

**"Would THAT be a SUITABLE alternative?"**

Noire found herself replying before she could even ponder the offer. "Yes, that'll be good." She spoke clearly and with firm finality. The thought of not having to deal with these guys chattering definitely helped if this offer was any indication, plus it meant she still got their powers anyways, so every side wins. She got power and not annoying companions, whilst these two got the freedom which they seemed to covet. Noire wasn't a fool, she could sense through their eyes that these two swords wanted freedom from this place, no matter what form of freedom that may be. If this were to happen, they'd likely do anything for it.

**"YES!"**

**"It is DONE, then!"**

Both swords showed eagerness and excitement as well, especially when their forms began to glow with their respective elements. These two elements, wind and fire, completely consumed their physical forms, and before long Noire found herself standing before two draconian beings, beings formed through those elements. These wind and fire dragons circled around Noire, almost as if judging her, before they entered her body through her chest area, making her gasp when she felt their power flowing into her. Noire almost stumbled backwards from this, but she held her ground until the dragons had completely entered her being. Not only this though, but she also felt their knowledge of swordplay flow into her mind, as well as memories of their countless battles against opponents the likes she could never even DREAM of. She learned of their backgrounds, of their emotions, of their sealing by an unknown DPU since that memory had become fuzzy over time (not like she could get mad about that though).

'Agni and Rudra, huh...?' The blackette thought when the feeling of them merging with her passed, placing a hand over her torso whilst closing her eyes, letting their memories play out one more time through her mind. Thanks to the newfound memories she got, something which she had made sure to distinguish from her own memories to avoid any kind of identity crisis, Noire found that these two Demon Swords also had a fairly good layout of the Tower itself. Like they had been here on an adventure once before, having mapped the entire place out in their minds, which now had become part of her. NOW she didn't have to worry about where to go anymore, not when she had an actual freaking map downloaded into her head. It may have taken away the feeling of being on an adventure, exploring the unknown, but that would be a fine price to pay for being able to save her people.

Once she had finished reviewing them for the time being, learning much more about the DPU Era than she could have learned about before, Noire tried to feel out where their powers had ended up. This resulted in her consciousness sinking deeper and deeper into herself, right where she felt the power of the Goddess was, waiting for her call... only, she found something else there as well. Something... she couldn't quite identify as of yet, but it remained there, floating close to her Goddess Powers but completely different in feeling. Unlike the warm divinity she felt when using Share Energy, this power felt... raw, primal, chaotic... Demonic, even. 'What...? What is this...?' she wondered, frowning as she tried to lock onto this power, but for some reason she felt a rebound within her consciousness. Like it was trying to tell her not to use this power as of yet.

'I'll think on this later, especially since now I can continue on my trek, finally.' Noire thought to herself, shrugging her shoulders while she proceeded to enter the door, passing through to continue her journey through the Temen-Ni-Gru.

* * *

**Chapter end!**

**Whew, another one, done. **

**Now, for those who don't know, I actually wanted to make this fight way shorter then continue on with the story, but... well, that didn't happen. I wanted to show just how difficult the DMC 3 Bosses can be. Plus, in terms of swordplay, I've made it so that Noire is inferior to Agni and Rudra, but managed to win by destroying the hosts they had taken for their powers. It actually made me feel like these swords had parasitic qualities to them at one point, with how those bodies are described. It was the strategy for players to win in the game, so I mirrored it here whilst showing Noire struggling, and the reason why she hadn't used that Heavy Sword she had gained from the secret mission... well, I'm pretty sure you all can guess from the reactions she had to it. **

**As for Agni and Rudra, instead of making them simply powerful Demons like Cerberus, I instead chose to make them sentient Satanic Treasures. I wanted to expand on some possibilities for these items of Demonic Power, as well as show how versatile they can be aside from just Raijin which Noire possesses right now. Thus, with their essence having been absorbed into Noire, it opens the window to some other ideas I've had in mind for the other Satanic Treasures I've introduced so far, like Nico and Neptune's rings and such. Not only does she gain their powers, though its something which is a part of a future development, she also has their memories, which she can view for inspiration in developing her sword skills. This will become MUCCH more necessary later in the main story, where she and the rest of the party reunite with Nico, since as much as she knows now about the DPU era, it cannot even BEGIN to compare with what Nico knows about it. Of course, absorbing a Satanic Treasure's essence means destroying the item as well since their essence is pretty much their Soul, but the payoff is that they gain tremendous power from it, kind of like absorbing a Devil's soul through their blood in a Demonic Ascension Ceremony, which will NOT be forgotten about. Trust me. **

**Anyways, look forward to what happens in the future, and remember: Devils Never Cry. **

**Peace out!**


	12. Chapter 12 - Meeting a Soldier

**Chapter 12 - Meeting a Soldier**

Infiltrating a Tower like this was NOT something she had thought she would need to be trained in.

That's what the woman who'd ridden the Vulture Bike here had confirmed to herself as she wandered through a large corridor, a Handgun in her hands as she cautiously checked around for any signs of danger. She had come here restocked, fully loaded and prepped for battle against forces she knew she would never have been able to face directly if she hadn't taken to joining THEM after the events with the CMA, not only that but whenever she got ambushed in this place, which happened more often than not and it surpassed the rate of Abnormals ambushing her in the past, the woman had to hone her danger senses to a level which she had never thought possible.

It made her realize just how… different, this world had become since she had her eyes opened to just how twisted, cruel and unforgiving it had truly been.

The woman slowly walked through this large corridor, like mentioned before, but the sounds of groaning quickly caught her attention. Instantly, her guard came up, as she sensed something appear before her as if jumping out like some sort of cliché horror movie villain. Before her, out came one of those black hooded skeletons with a Scythe, swinging towards her head. The woman, however, didn't let that happen as she bent her head back to avoid the sailing blade, before using the momentum to shift into a backflip when she saw one of the red ones having appeared behind her. Her backflip also served to help her avoid its diagonal Scythe Slash too.

Flipping over it, she pointed down at it with her Handgun and let loose a couple rounds, landing behind it and planting a boot on its back, knocking both it and the black one down. Danger sense kicked in again as the black one managed to get back up with the momentum of its fall to swing its Scythe towards her chest, with the woman side flipping over it whilst shooting it in the face some more. 'Of course, conventional normal weapons don't do jack shit to these guys…' she thought to herself upon landing and flip kicking the beast away. Just in time for the creature's partner to come right back up to try and behead her again.

With instincts she could only gain through intense life or death battles, the woman reacted by grabbing the Scythe's shaft to halt it's motion, then swung the creature around above her head, slamming it into a wall a few times before smacking it down into the ground before her, which alerted the woman to several more black robed creatures already jumping towards her.

Pupils shrunk as the woman jumped forwards, spinning like a sausage as she flew like a bullet, summoning and firing a second handgun into the mob of black robed creatures to knock them down. Upon her landing, the woman back flipped to avoid a scythe to her back then twisted into a scissor kick towards the culprit's head, knocking it down before she finished it off with a few bullets to the noggin and then stomping on it with enough force to destroy skulls for good measure.

Whilst the body vanished into particles, the woman kicked it into high gear when she found herself being body slammed from behind, being sent flying to a wall as a result. She quickly came to her senses though, twisting around and hopping over a slash to her legs, bending them so they were tucked to her knees. When the scythe impaled the wall, it got stuck there allowing her to use it as a platform to stand on. Another Scythe slash came down on her, had she not pivoted her footing, so she stood like she was on a surfboard, avoiding it. A third robed Scythe creature swung its weapon horizontally, and she dodged that one by bending herself so the blade would impale the space above her. With three creatures around her, the woman side flipped herself, kicking all three of them at the same time and knocking them away, resulting in her sitting on the wall-impaling Scythe cross legged like she were a government official sitting at a meeting.

'Heh, I'll give them this, they're a tenacious group of bastards…' the woman thought, a slightly devious smirk forming on her lips as she saw the creatures advancing towards her. She then reached behind her seemingly whilst really going for her inventory and pulled out two gadgets… gadgets which came from her Mentor. They resembled a bat shaped projectile used as a ranged, non-lethal alternative to fire arms. it is designed after a Boomerang so when it is thrown it returns to the user. Thus, that was exactly what they did upon her throwing them. Each of these 'Batarangs' as her mentor coined them as, spun through the air like wheels, cutting through each of the creatures before returning to her waiting hands, distracting them for her to switch back to her handguns. She then opened fire on them, showering the creatures with a layer of bullets…

Until she spotted one dash right at her and ignoring the literal bullet hell she had used.

When she saw this, the woman smirked as she switched out her handguns for something else: a set of small, marble ball-shaped explosives which she tossed the creatures' way. They detonated on contact, showering it with explosives which gave her the distraction she needed to switch to something else, a gun which was also modelled after a bat, though on its end looked to be some sort of claw. Her mentor had called it a 'Batclaw' due to the design and functions behind it. Aiming the Bat Claw, the woman fired it and saw the weapon latch onto the creature she had hit with those explosive pellets. With a yank, she pulled it towards her, hopping off the Scythe and axe kicking it in the jaw, grabbing the sides of its head to repeatedly knee it, before twirling around and flinging it right across into its buddies.

With her foes in one place, the woman took out a few grenades from her Inventory, ones the size of her hands with extra firepower, and tossed them into the mix, watching with a satisfied hum escaping her lips as the Grenades exploded, taking the creatures with them if the particles which she saw were any indication.

'Small ambushes like this are common, so I try to use as little of my equipment as I can since I can't really call for a restock in here…' The woman thought, frowning as she cupped her chin whilst walking off. 'Perhaps my friend's Noble Phantasm may need to be revealed soon, though I really don't want to use it unless the time is right. I'll have to get to the bottom of this soon, who knows what effects this Tower will have on the population...'

* * *

Noire felt pretty good about herself.

After she had gained the essence of the twin Demon Swords Agni and Rudra, she had continued till she had come to this statue in the middle of this circular room with only two staircases. Both had led to doors, but one of them had been barred by rubble. She COULD have just removed it all herself but decided against it and used the other entrance instead. She had recalled from the memories of those two Demon Swords that the statue held an item which, once the seal would be released upon completing three tests and putting the rewarding essences inside the statue itself, would unleash an energy wave which would destroy the rubble. Apparently, it had been placed there and filled with Demonic Wards in which only the energy wave could destroy, as one of many tests the Tower gives to the intruders to see if they were worthy. Those who live and complete the puzzles, win either rewards, advancement or both. As for those who lose… well, that didn't need to be said, now did it?

In any case, Noire cleared the tests, one of them being a riddle which she took several attempts to solve (each failing resulting in her being trapped in a room filed with Demons), then an obstacle course which she had to run through a corridor whilst avoiding moving stakes from different walls, the floor or ceiling, and finally the last trial had been similar to the first, only the Demons had Wards on them reducing the amount of damage that she could do to them. She had to keep the Damage Wheels spinning at full power in order to do the max amount of damage she could against the Demons, and if even the SLIGHTEST power drop happened, then she would be forced to spin them back up. Not exactly the easiest thing to do when one is fighting hoards of enemies, but she had managed.

In which case, when she had finished the trials and placed the essences in the statue, not only had she seen it release the same energy wave to destroy the rubble and let her continue, but she had also gained a new addition to her developing arsenal: a demonic Gun-shaped Satanic Treasure called the Artemis, which fired purple energy lazers that could be charged for extra damage. Though, like any proud weapon owner, she'd experimented it with some unlucky Demons and discovered that depending on the energy consumption during a initial charging period, it could release multiple blasts at once. Kind of like whenever Neptune would bombard her with energy blades during their spars back when they were fighting against Avenir.

Noire had even made a remark about how Neptune would aim it and be like 'IMAH FIRIN' MA LAZAH!'

Which lead to her current situation of walking leisurely up a staircase, until she came to a platform which looked to have once been something else but now functioned as a destroyed hole in the wall. As she walked out to the ledge, Noire had to look up at the night skies again, marvelling at how, whilst it hadn't been that long since the night began, she still felt like years had passed by. Especially with the foreign memories ingrained into her brain, though she still knew who she herself was and where she could draw the line. "Say, Siegfried…?"

_… __What is it?..._

"What was it like, back in your kingdom…?" she questioned, only she was speaking now due to there being nobody around to call her weird for talking to seemingly air. She wasn't Neptune who talked to Histoire like so without shame. "Did you often see beautiful nights like this, or…?" Thinking about what she had learned of Siegfried's story, it often made her wonder about him. What his personal feelings had been when he ruled his Kingdom, did he ever manage to see some form of beauty in it whilst helping those around him? The amount of info she had on him wasn't very large, even though she had been his student for so long now. In essence, though if anyone ask she'd deny it and possibly take it to her grave, she wanted to know more about her mentor, and every time she asked him questions only piqued her curiosity. There was a saying called 'curiosity killed the cat', but people tend to forget that 'a cat has nine lives' too.

_…__There were times yes. I would often take breaks when I found myself stressed out from all the work I had to do, or when I made trips to areas on others' requests. I would sometimes look around at the scenery, basking in it and thinking to myself 'this is what I rule over. This land is my land'. To be able to acknowledge the beauty of the world, to see what it was that I had been protecting for so many years, it filled me with a joy the likes of which I cherished up until my death. Even when I died, I died with a smile on my face as I chose one of the greatest forests ever as my final resting place. Of course, I merely admired it whenever I was in a foreign leader's country, I was still a King back then, so I had to act in accordance to my position. Being a Leader isn't exactly the easiest job around…_

Yeah, Noire could understand that part all too well. "Truer words have never been spoken. Seeing beauty like this, makes ruling a Nation much easier, I agree. Though its best not to drink it in too much when more important matters need to be attended to. Like now for instance." She replied, making to turn back and continue climbing the tower… until she stopped. Her eyes widened and then narrowed when she picked something up. 'Siegfried, do you sense that…?' she thought to her Heroic Spirit, thinking her comments this time due to the sudden shift in situation.

_… __Yes. This feeling, it is indeed a Heroic Spirit, but the way it feels constrained, makes me believe that it is in the same situation as you and myself. Feels like an Assassin or Archer Type Heroic Spirit, and its coming our way fast. Be wary, we may have a fight on our hands…_

Didn't need to tell her twice. Quickly reaching behind her, Noire grasped the hilt of Balmung but didn't draw it right away. She instead jogged back to the edge of the platform and tried looking around, to see if she could spot any signs of attack in which she could use to detect the enemy's location. She probably shouldn't have assumed it to be an enemy but considering how all she had met so far had turned out to be hostile, not really many people could blame her.

Just then, she heard the sound of something falling from above, and quickly looked up. Her eyes, as well as Siegfried's within her spirit, widened to the size of dinner plates when they saw a female falling down towards them at high speeds, not looking like there were any signs of aggression nor did she look like she was slowing down. 'Holy crap, she's not attacking, she's falling!' Noire realized, quickly leaping into action. Donning her FAFNIR ARMOUR, the blackette jumped into the air, shooting towards the falling body and grabbed it out of the skies, grunting when she had the foreign weight slam onto her without mercy. She still managed though, and that would be the main thing to take away from this situation, as she flew back down to the platform, landed and put down the person she had just saved from becoming a stain on the floor below.

'Whew… that was a close one…' Noire thought as she sat back down, dismissing her FAFNIR ARMOUR so she wouldn't startle the person once they got their bearings. It looked like this person, a girl she realized, had just started to regain her bearings, which felt good since Noire had a few questions of her own. Like, how the heck was there someone else who had a Heroic Spirit as a partner like her, or how she wasn't affected by the spell on the city? Well, part of her theorized that the Heroic Spirit themselves had been responsible for that last question, but still she needed to be sure.

Taking a moment to judge her appearance, Noire quickly concluded this to be a soldier of some sorts. The reason why she thought this, as that the girl had the build of one, slender yet with a layer of muscle deep within, which showed that she took her physical condition quite seriously. Her eyes, whilst initially closed, opened to show how they had a ruby crimson colour, though the left one looked to be concealed by a technological eyepiece. Her hair, reaching her mid back in length, had a milky blue colour whilst it remained held in place by a dark green cloth. Likely to keep her hair out of her vision so she could fight on the battlefield more effectively. Perhaps the girl fought with evasion and agility in mind? Noire wasn't sure on that, but she did see enough evidence to assume this to be the case.

Her Clothing would be one such piece of evidence, as it seemed to follow the trend of… being quite revealing if Noire were to be honest, then again it also left her body quite mobile which supported her theory on he girl's fighting style. To go into more detail, Noire saw that the girl wore a dark green top with black belted segments on it and a white cloth top, partially revealing her breasts (Not something Noire herself felt like she could do, especially since it revealed way more than her dress did). Around her waist, she wore dark dull green shorts with white lining, a black belt, and a slit up the side with black lacing, two belts on the upper leg, and a pair of dull, dark green boots with black and white accenting. She also wore black fingerless gloves (one arm having a familiar Bracer attached to it) and one leg is covered by a black stocking with red line detail. Everything about this girl's clothing told the CPU that she was more on the speed and evasion side of things, especially when she saw the dagger which the girl held in her right hand, which looked distinctly 'bat shaped' now that she thought about it.

In addition to her assumptions about her being a soldier…

'Siegfried… This girl, she…'

_…__Indeed. This woman, she does have one…_

His words only served to confirm what her senses had been picking up. The fact that she would be encountering a Heroic Spirit user just like herself wasn't lost on the blackette, plus she had heard from Siegfried how certain Heroic Spirits had greater standards for potential users. It all depended on the Heroic Spirit themselves really, though in her and her Saber Class Spirit's opinions the easier cases would have bene the Berserkers. Due to their mental states being as bad as they were hanks to this 'mad enhancement' trait, it made it easier to access their abilities... although the consequences of which could vary. 'So THAT'S why this girl's able to avoid the Spell on this city, fighting like there's nothing wrong. Can you tell what type it is from here?'' she asked the former king, to which she got a reply moments later.

_...Feels like an Assassin Type Heroic Spirit, although I am unable to tell for certain which one, as I am trying to contact it now. Heroic Spirits of this Class are skilled at operating covertly, stealthy, and silently. Although most Assassins are famous for sneaky killings, there's an exception who was a public executioner. This class is one of the weaker classes at direct fighting though, as its members possess low attributes due to not having glorious legends as heroes, it instead specializes in killing those bonded to them or normal people. It is an oddity compared to the more formal Knight classes who believe in fair duels and chivalry in combat; they will attack using the most unfair and favourable conditions, and with these conditions, it is possible for an Assassin to match and defeat other Servants. The Assassins' special class ability is ''Presence Concealment", which allows them to remain undetected when spying or preparing to ambush their targets…_

Noire mentally nodded at this information. A while back, during the earlier days of their partnership, the blackette had requested that Siegfried only tell her about the other classes in more detail than the overview a few chapters ago when they encounter these specific types in person. This way, it allowed her to plan and strategize how to best approach certain individuals differently, as from what she had assumed, Heroic Spirits preferred certain types of people than others, their preferences varying thanks to their classes. Case in point, the Saber Class Siegfried chose only those who had the will of a leader as worthy for his power. Still, it wasn't the BEST plan, as it could distract her if they got forcibly engaged in a battle, but Noire had enough confidence in her new fighting skills to be able to last a while in that scenario.

By this point, the prone woman's mind had completely regained consciousness, her lone eye shining with utter clarity as she groaned, sitting up whilst holding her head with her freehand. "Ugh, that damned bastard… he pulled a fast one on me…" the woman muttered under her breath, shaking her head to get rid of any stray cobwebs. Her brows furrowed in annoyance and irritation seconds later, as if she had been told something that provoked her in such a manner. "I know, I know! I should have been more cautious of that guy, thinking back on it I should have known better! Geez, thinking that he'd be a weakling considering how many times he tried to become a Demon was a bad move on my part. Good thing his arrogance led him to…"

At that point, her eyes blinked in confusion and surprise, as if something had been informed to her that she didn't expect. This assumption soon became realized upon her shaking her head. "Huh? What are you talking about? There's nobody… wait, how did I survive the fall and end up here, I should have landed at the base of the tower…" she muttered under her breath, before she looked to the side and found her gaze landing upon the Lastation CPU. Almost immediately, the woman's gaze became filled with shock and confusion, almost causing her to do a double take as she shot up to her feet. "L-L-Lady Black Hearth-Heart?!"

'Ugh, that reminds me of that time I had to use my cosplay hobby to keep my identity a 'secret' back then…' Noire thought to herself, shuddering at the memory of how bad her acting had been in the beginning. Pushing that thought aside though, the blackette stood up as well. "Finally, took you long enough to notice I was here. Your welcome for the save by the way." She commented, huffing whilst glancing to the side. She could feel the disapproval from Siegfried at this though, but he didn't say anything in favor of contacting this girl's fellow Heroic Spirit.

"I see… That explains it then." The blue haired woman mused, a light of understanding in her eyes. At one point, Noire swore she saw a few… complex-looking emotions in her eyes, but they vanished just as quickly as they came She then shook her head and began to introduce herself. "Its still a great honor to meet you, Lady Black Heart. Originally, I feared that I myself were the only one unable to b affected by the mass sleeping Spell over Lastation, it is good that this isn't the case. I am Lid, General of Lastation's infiltration force." The woman, Lid, introduced herself.

The moment she did, Noire's eyes widened in shock, a particular memory of looking over a certain report coming back to the forefront of her mind. 'Lid? Could that be…?' she wondered, before deciding to inquire into this. If this was true, then… "Lid… by any chance, are you the general involved with the Cornucopia Military Academy?" she questioned. As the CPU, Noire had always been privy to the knowledge of this Academy, as while it was stationed in Lowee, it also had close ties to the Lastation Government section of her Basilicom. Naturally, she would know of such a place in this situation, which also allowed her to learn of the rebellion it lead against a powerful military force known as the Coalition, which had strove to 'prepare for humanity's prosperity', and had been fueled by resentment towards the CPUs for not coming to their aid in making things better. The CMA had been led by a man named Theta, who had been the leader of the rebellion, conscripting soldiers, weapons and ammo from her Country the most out of the four Nations. Naturally, he had also recruited Lid as well.

Not to mention, he had even put in a request to the Guild, in which a certain redhead Spec Ops accepted, which had led to his further recruitment and participation too…

Hearing about that name, Lid found herself hit by a wave of nostalgia, memories returning to her which brought back both painful and gratitude-inducing feelings. She recalled the lessons she had learned there, the lessons in which both Theta and Nico had pretty much hammered into her brain, one with tact and the other with painful, blunt honesty… with a side edition of brute force. Let it be said that it wasn't hard to guess which off the two adopted these specific approaches. "Yes… that is me. I was a part of the rebellion-rebellion!" Lid cursed under he breath as her misspelling habit kicked in. "Apologies, I tend to misspell-misspell some words when I'm feeling overwhelmed… anyways, yes, that was me."

"Whew, well that explains that then…" Noire mused, deciding to ignore the quirk Lid displayed for the General's own sake, something which she seemed to understand herself given the look of gratitude she had sent her way. "Anyways, its nice to see someone else other than me unaffected by the spell, too." Noire admitted, smiling a bit in relief, knowing that she wasn't alone in her endeavors. Although she didn't dare to hope for too much, she just had to ask anyways. "Is there anyone else who's like us, unaffected by it? Maybe we can ask for their help, since this place seems to be the cause of the Spell." It wasn't something which hadn't crossed her mind, in fact Noire had found herself wondering this for dozens of moments between her battles with the Demons. Though, she hadn't dared get her hopes up, nothing truly went according to one's wishes after all. Just look at faulty technology for example.

Unfortunately, it seemed like those hopes even if they had been raised, would have been smashed in the end. Evidence pointing towards this came when Lid shook her head in denial, her lone eye narrowing as she looked out into the city. "Unfortunately, that is a negative, Lady Black Heart. I have checked everywhere in the city myself before arriving, and everyone aside from you and me is under the influence of this spell. Even my Mentor, who trained me to the bone in his ways, has succumbed to it, which shows me just how powerful the Spell really is." Lid explained, a dark scowl on her lips as she clenched her fists. "Damnit, this is just what that bastard Arkham wanted…"

"Arkham?"

The moment she heard that name, Noire frowned as an image of a certain scarred scholarly figure came to mind. She never got a good feeling from him, even before Siegfried had warned her of his connection to the demonic. Thus, hearing someone else refer to him in a negative manner only worsened her feelings towards that man. "I'm guessing you and he have some history with each other, then?" she questioned, drawing Lid's gaze and almost flinching from the look of sheer hatred burning like a furious furnace in her eyes.

"Hate, doesn't even begin to describe how much I loathe that man. If anything, I hate him even more than the Coalition back then." Lid remarked; her scowl strong enough that it could have cut her face in half with how it stretched her cheeks like it did. "Although I would rather be continuing my tasks, it's imperative you know more about the bigger picture, Lady Black Heart. Arkham's a highly wanted criminal in the eyes of Lastation Law, but very few are privy to knowledge of his existence. This is because only the higher levels of Spec Ops Agents are allowed to go after him, and even then, they either return heavily injured or don't return at all. I myself have been hunting him ever since my mentor allowed me to, but even then he had to make me an honorary Spec Ops Agent and make me pass a previous Spec Ops Exam to do so."

Now THIS caused Noire's jaw to drop, the alarm bells in her mind ringing like no tomorrow at just how dangerous this man seemed to be. Back when she'd first seen him, Noire HAD gotten the feeling of being seen as a pawn or a tool when looking into his eyes, as well as saw a strong sense of intelligence from him. She didn't dare underestimate or look down on him at all because of this, so hearing just how people belonging to the SPEC OPS viewed him… yeah, she now definitely wouldn't be underestimating him in the future. This man almost seemed worse than GANACHE of all people.

Lid continued, already aware of the other woman's train of thought by eyeing her facial features, a trick she had developed to see through masks, a lot like a certain Spec Ops Agent. "He's bad news, in fact Arkham has known of the existence of Demons for quite some time now. He has tried numerous times to develop Demonic Powers of his own without having to go through the Demonic Ascension Ceremony, as his Soul is too weak for something like that. That's according to what I recovered from one of his laboratories by the way, but aside from that these tests have ended up sacrificing COUNTLESS villages to the Demonic forces, despite each one ending in failure. He would go as far as to sacrifice his own wife and daughter for this power… its uncountable how many he has sacrificed for this goal…" Lid explained, gritting her teeth so hard that they would have cracked and shattered under normal circumstances.

'Okay, now I'm regretting not killing him when I should have…' Noire thought in her mind as her shock quickly became replaced by overwhelming RAGE. She'd done her best, she'd vowed that she would be a better leader for her Nation, to protect Lastation from any and all threats. Now look at her, how could she claim to be something that grand with scum like Arkham running about? She didn't believe Lid to be lying either, as even a bout of confirmation from her Heroic Spirit Siegfried told her she was being truthful. Siegfried held much more knowledge about this stuff than her, so of course she'd trust in his judgement. The amount of guilt and shame in her right now could NOT be stated with mere words.

"When I saw this tower come out from beneath Lastation, I knew for a FACT I'd find a trace of that scoundrel somewhere. He'd been researching on this Temen-Ni-Gru for some time now according to the documents I stole from one of his lesser guarded laboratories, especially with how it works." Lid explained, remembering what she'd read. "It wasn't easy though, as thanks to it being written in the demonic tongue so no normal mortal could withstand it, I had some… difficulty, translating it into my own documentary about it. According to what I was able to decipher though, it seems this tower not only has great knowledge inside of it along with countless treasures from what I could only assume to be a time when Demons were more well-known…" Oh, how little Lid knew then, Noire felt as she reflected upon the memories of Agni and Rudra. "But it seems to hold the purpose of being a medium, a medium to access a whole new world, I think anyways. How it does that I'm not so sure yet, but I bet whoever raised this Tower has the answer. Not like that's my business though, all I care about is finding and killing Arkham for his crimes."

"Straight up killing… But Lastation has laws to ensure-"

Lid then interrupted Noire who tried to say something about the Lastation Judicial system. "A threshold which has long since passed for this case, Lady Black Heart. Do you really believe that there aren't people out there who aren't redeemable? Those who just want to see the world burn? What about those who constantly offend no matter how many times they are put in prison? People like that aren't those who could be taught to be better, there's no helping them. Those who added the following law knew this truth too. Its stated in article 500 paragraph C section 4 which covers Spec Ops laws: any criminal who proves too great for higher tier Spec Ops to handle has to be 'killed on sight'. Arkham's a clear example of this, and I intend to serve justice which has been denied for way too long." Lid countered, to which Noire had to stop what she wanted to say right there. Her words rung true, as thanks to wanting to repair her Nation, Noire had scanned through the MASSIVE amounts of rules and regulations put in place to keep some semblance of law in place whilst she had been away. Thus, she'd read through that Article in particular.

"…Alright, then. I didn't wish to stop you anyways, since its clear that this is a national emergency." Noire admitted, sighing as she looked out into the city. "Looks like things are going to be getting hectic in the future. In that case, shall we discuss how to go about this? I'm thinking we should split up, travelling down two separate paths but keep in contact with one another." Noire suggested, to which Lid pondered for a moment, before she gave an acknowledging nod.

She then gave her opinion on the matter. "And cover more ground, affirmative. A sound plan, Lady Noire, and I have the right equipment for us to exchange for this joint sortie." She stated, before pulling a couple orb-like devices from her Inventory. Walking over to the blackette, Lid handed her one whilst explaining its nature. "Here's an earpiece, its connected to the one I'll be putting in my ear when we part. Just touch and press it with your index finger, and a comm channel will open between us. We can inform each other at regular intervals of our progress, share any vital information that we come across."

At this, Noire nodded in acceptance, taking he earpiece and putting it in her left ear. She had experience with stuff like this thanks to Raiden, which taught her that the materials used by the Spec Ops branches tend to be quite sturdy stuff, thus she could use her bodily transformation abilities without worry of damaging them. "Alright then, I'll go on ahead then. You take the route you intended before we met up but be careful. Especially if you run into any possible Heroic Spirits or other nasty opponents." She urged, to which Lid gave an acknowledging nod again. 'This girl's quite the formal, professional type, huh? Reminds me a lot of Nico… why the heck do I find so many things relating to that guy?! Seriously, this is MY side story after all!' Well, if she were frank, it made sense since Nico may as well have impacted the world in ways she could not have even imagined. He'd touched way more people than her, and for much longer. Pretty much reminded her with a slap to the face just how much she had missed by fighting that stupid war.

* * *

Shortly afterwards, the two girls parted ways… though, Noire nearly had a heart attack when she saw Lid jump off the side of the tower, pretty much go all YOLO like some suicidal nutcase then swan dive down below. 'Is she INSANE?! Does she know how high we are?!' That had been the thoughts she had at the moment whilst she barely resisted the urge to activate her FAFNIR ARMOUR, go down there, bring her back and lecture her for hours on end for how stupid that had been. Not to mention the morbid images of the ground going haymaker on her brain matter. Fortunately before she could make good on her intentions, Lid had contacted her after the fall to let her know she would be fine, that she had her own means of protecting herself. Despite the not so subtle relief which she released, Noire still couldn't help but feel like this had something to do with her Heroic Spirit though, and speaking of which…

Once she had found herself alone once more, Noire decided to get some information out of her remaining partner/mentor, as she twirled on her heels and proceeded to continue on her way. 'So… any luck on your end…?' she questioned Siegfried while continuing to walk towards a door, one which likely led to some other section of the Tower. Not like Noire had much of a care for that at the moment however, since she had learning more about her new companion as a bigger priority.

_…__I have indeed. We were right in that it was an Assassin-Type Heroic Spirit class/ However, this spirit seems to share their trait for distrusting other beings, as it made me swear an oath not to reveal its true name to you as of yet. It is an awfully wary sort, even for its kind. However, what I can say is that Lid definitely has a formidable partner in it, and they have only met in recent time. If I were to guess, then I would assume it to be somewhat shorter in time frame compared to you and me, although she and it became aware of one another much earlier than us…_

'So, what your saying is that whilst you and I spent a larger time frame together, albeit with me lacking your awakened self, Lid and this Heroic Spirit are the same as us right now, but they were aware of each other from the very start. That puts us on equal footing of sorts, when using the powers of a Heroic Spirit, then…' Noire mused back, cupping her chin whilst the clicks of her silver heels resounded across the stone floor as she neared the door and pushed on through. Whilst the door opened from the force she exuded on it with a loud, drawn out creaking sound (which sounded similar to one of those doors in a haunted house would make, though she'd never admit that), the black haired CPU couldn't help wondering what would become of this new partnership.

* * *

"So… that was Lady Black Heart, huh…?"

Lid mused this to herself once she landed at the bottom of the tower. She had no doubts she'd have to find her own way back inside again, that was the price she had to pay in order to continue on her journey through the Tower. There likely would be so many secrets, that she likely will find all sorts of things which could help the military, enough secrets which imply that there was more than one way to scale it. Since this place had Demonic Energies and no small amounts of Wards over it though, Lid had been unable to Scan its interior completely with her Bracer. However, the fact that she had met someone else caused her to have… well, mixed feelings, ESPECIALLY since it had been the Goddess of Lastation herself. "Still, as much as I loathe to admit it, its quite fortunate for us to have met someone else like me. You said she had a Heroic Spirit guiding her, too?"

…

"Eh? It's a Saber class, huh? Well, that makes sense, and judging from what your telling me, it seems to be a powerful one too. Fortunately, its not a divine Spirit, as from what you've told me those guys can be annoying to deal with, especially that one who Gilgamesh personally despises. Anyways, do you think she can be trusted…?" Lid asked seemingly nobody as she continued on her way. For a moment, she remained silent, her eyes closed in contemplation whilst nodding to show she was listening to something. What that would be, would be any outsider's guess, though if Noire were here, she would assume it to be the same kind of thing that she had. "I see… understandable, if one knows a Heroic Spirit's true name, they can use their legends to find a weakness to their powers. Each one of them is unique for better or for worse…" Lid remarked, before her lone eye opened and her eyepiece beeped, a fierce scowl forming on her lips. "Just like that bastard said…"

**_(FLASHBACK)_**

**_Walking along the edge of a long platform jutting out the tower, Lid firmly hummed to herself as she held her Bracer up at her torso level. The cold, nightime breeze blew through her hair, but not enough to make it flail about, just enough to cause it to lightly sway as if being cradled by a loving parent. Her eyes cast themselves out towards the vastness which had been laid out before her, and despite her military training the young maiden found herself unable to stop herself from catching her breath at the sight of it._**

**_She'd gotten pretty high up from what she had been able to see from the outside, so she figured she would be close to the top of this damned place. All she had to do would be to keep going, maybe then she'll find her answers. Looking down at her Bracer again as she viewed a holographic 3D map of what she'd explored so far, Lid muttered something under her breath. "Well, despite being unable to use my Bracer to its fullest, scanning the layout room for room allowed me to at least have SOMEWHAT of a map for this labyrinth of a Tower…" the military woman mused to herself, sensing her 'friend' agreeing with her. _**

**_It may not look like it, but Lid did indeed have her guard up, her knife remained secured to her person ready to be drawn at the slightest provocation, dripped with poison which she had seen would not be very effective against these pests running amok through the tower. She knew this, since she'd experimented through the many times she had been ambushed by her opponents, forcing her to utilize her supply of gadgets provided by her Mentor. Still, knife work was her forte, when one got down to it through her expertise in firearms and other military feats. Heck, her 'friend' had told her the two Noble Phantasms he had, which she had found together luckily, had pretty much taken root inside of her very being, one of them having originally been sealed off until she had learned how to unseal it thanks to her knowledge of Drive Skills. _**

**_"_****_Well, well…"_**

**_Her entire body FROZE stiff, like she had become a literal human iceberg, at the very SECOND she heard that familiar voice. That damn, repulsive calm yet menacing and mocking voice of which she had grown to despise with every fibre of her being. Teeth clenched as an explosive whirlpool of fury erupted within her chest, causing the woman to twirl around to face the source of her ferocity: The scholarly scarred man of whom she had been hunting for many months now: Arkham. The man, carrying that same poetry book, stood there as calm and collected as he ever had been. She doubted that this would ever change, even if he stood at deaths door, he would still have this irritatingly calm and composed demeanour, like he already knew how to play things out or how to get out of certain situations. "You…!"_**

**_"_****_You've grown stronger…" Arkham stoically commented, his eyes trailing up and down her physique in a calculating way. In some manner, Lid felt even more disgusted by this man than she would an enemy, heck she even knew he wasn't someone who ogled women of his fancy either, the guy didn't even have a heart filled with lust to do that. No, its all about Demonic Power with his guy, that lesson she had learned the hard way. The manner of which how his Scar seemed to shift and distort itself as he spoke sent chills up her spine, but Lid didn't let that distract her. Not when she knew that this guy had some… powerful company backing him up, she just KNEW this to be the case even if she couldn't sense anything nearby. _**

**_"_****_Go to hell!" _**

_**A snarl escaped Lid's mouth as she glared hatefully towards Arkham, having already readied her Knife for combat. A knife which had been made from Silver Steel, the metal all Spec Ops Agents were made from, the sole metal which had been able to slice through the defenses of the Abnormals. Arkham saw this, and if he had any eyebrows, he would have arched them with the following stern tone he adopted. "You dare point a gun at me? Your own kin? Your dear… uncle?"**_

**_"_****_SHUT IT!" hearing him call himself her uncle, caused Lid to practically lose her shit, even with her 'friend' screaming at her to keep her cool. The corners of her vision became tinted with a crimson hue as she unconsciously began calling upon the power of the 'friend' she had made, causing her eyes to gain an unnatural glow to them. "YOU WERE NEVER AN UNCLE TO ME! THE ONLY FAMILY I HAD WAS MY MOTHER AND FATHER! AND THEY ARE FREAKING DEAD BECAUSE OF YOU!" By the time she had finished yelling, Lid bent her legs before breaking into a mad sprint, becoming a blur as she closed the distance between them. Her knife came cutting through the air like a vicious serpent, intent on carving right trough Arkham with the ferocity of an entire army on a massive surge of bloodlust. _**

**_Just a second before the knife could touch Arkham's flesh… _**

**SWOOSH!**

**Arkham's body vanished into thin air, like he had never been in that spot in the first place. This caused Lid's Knife and bloodlust to cut nothing but air, the blue haired woman landing in a crouch position before getting to her feet in the following seconds. She then got into a defensive stance, positioning her Knife by her chest in a reverse grip whilst the other hand got outstretched at her side, waiting to be receive orders from her brain. "Grrr…! COME OUT, YOU FUCKING TRAITOROUS BASTARD!" Lid yelled out into the vast surroundings. Thanks to there being a bit of smoke in the air, it made vision slightly impaired for her. **

**"****You break my heart, little blue…"**

**Arkham's voice echoed through the surroundings, and no matter how hard she tried Lid found herself unable to locate the place it came from. Like it came from everywhere around her yet not at the same time. "After all… wasn't it I who started you off on your training? Wasn't it I myself who taught you the survival skills you know?" The more she heard him talk, the sicker she became, Lid realized. That is, until she sensed his presence once agsin and quickly looked upwards with a ferocious glare… seeing Arkham standing atop a piece of a statue upside down leering down at her. With his wide eyes, lack of proper sockets and burnt flesh, the stare he gave her would give children nightmares. "MY DARLING KNIECE?!"**

**In that moment, the man let his book drop downwards, letting it land on her face too distract her. That gave him the time to hop down, land by her side, grab her by the arm then toss her over his shoulder and off the side of the platform. As she flew, Lid howled as she summoned her Handgun and began firing bullets at him, her rage blinding her to the thought of using any other gadgets at her disposal. As a result, the man grasped his book out of the air and looked down, watching Lid fall down into the depths below with his ever-stoic expression plastered onto his scarred face.**

**(FLASHBACK END)**

Lid shook her head with a grunt, pushing that recent memory to the back of her mind before she could succumb to the urge to let out her vomit. She never liked thinking of that man, not after what he had done to her and her family, of how much he would be willing to go for power. Sometimes it amazed her how twisted people could truly be, they could be even worse than the Abnormals and Demons which prowl the Nations at this point, Lid felt. Still, with how she had been unable to even scratch that son of a bitch for all this time showed her that she still had a long way to go. That she still had the chance she craved to get revenge for her cousin, her aunt and uncle... her parents... and everyone else whom this guy had butchered for his pursuit of demonhood. Though, if she were frank, the first few were the most important in Lid's book. It felt more like an obligation to care about those she hadn't personally met when they had been victims of that man, it wasn't a feeling she personally liked though, no matter how true it was.

Still, back to the whole Noire stuff. She could understand her friend's wariness towards her, even if Lid followed her as her patron Goddess. Lid had learned much during and after her time fighting the Coalition, and one of those things had been to rely more on her own skills than that of a deity which may or may not be all that special. A heretical thought process to be sure, but one which had been forcibly crammed down her throat without hesitation nor mercy, then reinforced by all the atrocities which she had seen afterwards. As for her 'friend', his reasons for not trusting others lay with his nature and occupation back when he had been alive, even though Saber Class Heroic Spirits tend to value honour and chivalry, that didn't necessarily mean their wielders would be the same way. She didn't know Noire, but she DID know the Goddess Black Heart who had abandoned her Nation to fight the Console War. As such, she wanted to wait and see if she had been able to change since her return, changed from the person she had once been to who she should have from the very start. Well, that was the thought process her 'friend' had explained to her, and if she were honest, Lid partially agreed with him.

One can't just trust anyone in this world anymore. One has to always be on guard, lest they find a dagger impaling their backs.

* * *

**Chapter end**

**Whelp, here's the one and only: Lid! A General from Hyperdevotion Noire! Now, if you've read the incomplete Symmetrical Evolution story, then you'll know that she was a bit of a brat back then. his time though, the experiences she went through back ten have changed her into a more mature person, but not too mature as she still loses it when things anger her. Such as Arkham. In terms of DMC 3, Lid takes the place of Mary/Lady, cause honestly I can see these two getting along. One's a badass gun user, whilst another is an equally badass Infiltration agent. Its kind of like in Noire's case where she reminds me of Trish, the Demon lady who uses Lightning and fights alongside Dante occasionally. Though different in personality, if these two were to meet I bet Trish could have definitely taken out some of Noire's tsundere traits by encouraging her to be more confident in herself. **

**Still, I'm also portraying her as somewhat wary of Noire, but not enough that she'll let it affect her professionalism. I want to show her as someone who knows what she wants to do, and won't let outside factors distract her although she'll acknowledge them in her internal monologues. Given how things have been so far, it only makes sense for Lid to be this way towards her, unlike in Hyperdevotion where she was so 'hyperdevoted' to Noire... ugh, kill me for that pun. That, and can anyone guess who her Spec Ops Mentor is? I doubt anyone will guess which Heroic Spirit Lid has bonds with through their Noble Phantasms, and even then there are multiples, which I will get into later on. Lid'll shed some light on that when she is more trusting of Noire, having seen her sincerity firsthand. **

**I'm also giving her more of a backstory, and a personal reason to hate Arkham just like Lady did her father for what he did to become a Demon, albeit an imperfect one. This'll make it so that she fits more into the DMC 3 Storyline, and that i'll be able to better change some scenes instead of outright cutting them out. DMC 3's story still holds up today actually. Other than that, she's also someone who has become very cynical, having lost a lot of faith in people thanks to the atrocities she's witnessed as shown when she described the fact that some people just don't deserve mercy. Honestly, this is something shown in a LOT of OEG's villains, but for someone to bluntly state this pretty much screams how bad its gotten. This Gamindustri is NOT like the original, you can definitely see that. **

**Whelp, that's it for now, I guess. I'll see you all in the next chapter, everyone!**

**Peace out!**


	13. Chapter 13 - Meeting the Master FINALLY!

**Chapter 13 - Meeting the Master FINALLY!**

After all the fighting, the worries and the doubts, finding out that she wasn't the only living being fighting the Demons would probably be considered the best thing Noire had experienced this entire time. Happily humming to herself (all the while happily singing under her breath and performing a few dance moves like twirls, flips and twists) as she proceeded to walk back inside the Temen-Ni-Gru, the blackette felt like she had been riding on a high this entire time, and likely wouldn't be stopping any time soon unless she got into a serious confrontation. Things so far seemed to be looking up for her, especially with the knowledge that she now had someone else to help her take care of this issue.

Even the thought of impending Demon attacks didn't seem to deter her state of being right now.

"Ahhh, just knowing that someone else is here, fighting these things just like me is enough of a relief for me for now." Noire mused to herself, sighing as if in a dream-like state as she approached a door leading to another section of the tower according to what she could glean from the memories Agni and Rudra gave her when she'd absorbed their Souls. That experience had taught her something, and that had been that depending on the target being absorbed, Noire reaped different benefits whenever her apparent soul-sucking ability activated.

For example, consuming Demon Souls seemed to provide her with this… unknown benefit, what that was she had no idea on how to even investigate. Whenever she absorbed a Demon Soul now that's he paid attention to this ability whenever it activated, she noticed that these souls seemed to be… eaten, by something. That would be the best way for her to describe it, she would always hear the faint sounds of rumbling and crunching whenever this process occurred. However, Satanic Treasures, albeit sentient ones, seem to be able to grant her knowledge though it would be focused on more specific things that the Treasure specialized in. In Agni and Rudra's cases, she'd gotten memories of their countless battles, memories which she could use to develop her skills with a blade whilst… learning a bit little of anything else. She only got a better map of the areas she had indeed been to, along with other fragments of memories Noire had found to be quite useless to her as of this moment.

Not like this mattered to her at the moment, as she still reminisced on the relief she felt knowing she wasn't as alone as she had thought in this little quest.

_…Whilst I am indeed pleased by these terms of events, Noire, you must remember that it is still just the two of you against this massive Demon incursion. This is not the time to lose your head, lest you ACTUALLY lose it and then everything you've strove for will be in vain…_

After a few moments of this, Siegfried finally saw fit to put a damper on Noire's spirits, returning her to reality as she found herself standing at the edge of what looked like a tall-cylindrical tower-like section. She could either go up or down and considering how in front of her there seemed to be this platform which radiated a gravitational force pushing upwards… it seemed like going up was the encouraged way to go. However, she didn't want to do that just yet, as instead she opted to talk to Siegfried a bit first. To express the annoyance and slight embarrassment she felt about his words, to be more exact. 'O-Oh, yeah, your right. I knew that, of course I did…' she thought back to him, having done this so out of influence. Knowing that she could receive a communication from Lid anytime would do that.

_…So long as you understand…_

'Of course, its' ME after all. A-Anyways, where do you think we should go? Up or down? Logically speaking going up will lead me to my target quicker, but if we go downwards we might find something which can help us unravel what the heck is with this place, or more importantly the identity of this so-called 'Master'.' She questioned thoughtfully, cupping her chin whilst leaning forwards. Noire did this so she could peer down towards the bottom of the tower, then looked up to see more 'floors' which she would need to scale with the platforms on them.

_…I would suggest you go down, Noire. Whilst going up seems like the logical step and could ensure us a quick way to our target, knowing the previous experiences with this tower makes me question whether or not more puzzles will await us, causing you to have to waste time backtracking which is ill-advised. Going down will at least confirm whether or not there are other traps waiting for us… oh? What's this?..._

When she heard Siegfried hum and sensed the curiosity in his voice at the end, it spawned a seed of intrigue within Noire's heart as well. She leaned back so she didn't risk falling, although if she did, she could always just activate her FAFNIR ARMOUR to fly down there safely. 'What is it? Something down there?' She questioned.

_…It would appear so. It seems that I can sense something down there, something quite significant if my senses are accurate. Even if you didn't find anything else down there, just finding this alone would be a tremendous benefit to you. Both to yourself, your training, and your progression through this Satanic Treasure to be more exact…_

Whelp, that settled it then, she would be going down first. The thought of finding something which drew such words out of her tenant like this filled Noire with eager anticipation, knowing how Siegfried had high standards as a former king of a country. That kind of position must have rewarded him with countless experiences, treasures and insights no ordinary person could have achieved, thus something which he deemed worthy to catch his attention would be worth investigating. With this in mind, Noire quickly activated her FAFNIR ARMOUR, spreading her draconian wings before she jumped into the air, angling herself so she resembled a swan diving towards its prey, before she flew down to the lowest section of the tower.

A few moments later, Noire reached the bottom, flipping forwards and lending on the ground in a crouch. Her hands placed themselves on the ground beside her feet, all the while her wings flapped a few times before curling inwards. Standing upright, the blackette allowed her ability to deactivate, returning her to her human form as she glanced around, noticing that there was only one single door before her, one which had these 6 torches with blue flame, 3 on either side, outlining its frame. Behind her, Noire saw that same platform she had seen earlier, atop a set of curving staircases similar to the ones she'd seen when first entering the Temen-Ni-Gru. 'Well, I can safely tell that's how I'll get back up there…' Noire thought to herself before she approached the door and passed on through.

Once it closed behind her, Noire found herself in… well, what looked to be some sort of library. The Library had a circular design to it, with shelves filled to the brim with different books with titles she could hardly read due to how faded they seemed to be. Probably thanks to the passage of time or something like that, she figured while striding forth into the place. Still… 'Whoaaaa… so nay books… and from the looks of it, these books originate from the DPU Era, or at least beyond the recollection of current generation scholars.' Noire thought in awe, looking around at all the information she had discovered. She could tell that, in such a place like this, a certain angry CPU in a certain cold nation would have a field day staying in here, studying the language these books would be written in before devouring the contents within.

_…Your guess would be accurate. Not only that, but the item I sensed is within this room, and its close too. If you look around, you will surely find something relating to it… not only that, but you might want to consider looking through this Library's contents. Perhaps we can find out more about this Tower, or even the Demons which guard it…_

Siegfried brought up good points, and it wasn't like Noire didn't have a bit of a way when it came to reading books. She DID have to look through piles of paperwork after all, so her reading tolerance had reached fairly high levels. Seeing so much information presented before her reminded herself of the days when she spent entire evenings combing through papers in her office, back when Lastation had a BIT more stability than it did right now. Not only that, but there would be absolutely ZERO chance she wouldn't capitalize on this opportunity, learning more about the DPU Era than she could have ever known otherwise felt way too tempting for her. Protecting her people meant that she had to, as the expression went, 'know thy enemy'.

As she stepped close to one of the shelves, a determined stare formed on her lips as she took out a pair of crimson reading glasses from her Inventory, something she had stumbled upon during her participation in the 'trial of wisdom' which she'd done after acquiring the sous of Agni and Rudra. She'd known these glasses weren't ordinary ones, in fact she sensed complex Wards on these which allowed them to have special functions, functions she'd realized when looking through the small bit of text detailing the three trials. Apparently, these things boosted one's reading and processing abilities to huge degrees, as she'd read that text in less than a second. With all these books around, Noire would DEFINITELY be needing them.

It took her what felt like an entire hour, when in reality it had been bout 50 minutes, before Noire had finished scanning through every book in the Library, storing them inside her Inventory for storage in her Basilicom. The reason why she intended for this, had simply been due to how a large portion of these books detailed stories of prominent figures within the DPU era, detailing countless experiences which had been described so vividly that Noire almost felt like she had lived through them herself. Every aspect had been detailed to perfection, which had been why she had skimmed through those stories and filed them into her Inventory to read later, as at that moment she had only been interested in the more… factual books inside this Library.

Boy did she find those… if 60% had been stories and biographies, then the remaining 40% would have rivalled if not surpassed Lowee's Libraries combined into one with the sheer amount of information they gave her.

For one, she learned MUCH more about Satanic Treasures, how they came to be and how they each had different levels of power despite their differing functions. First off, these Satanic Treasures came from several origin stories: either they got developed through countless battles and experiences made by their wielders, they were made by a DPU known as Sparda whom Noire recalled was referenced to Nico a few times, or they formed naturally from the collective Demonic energies which dominated Gamindustri at the time. She'd even found an encyclopaedia which detailed thousands upon thousands of different Satanic Treasures with their functions and weaknesses described to the tiniest detail. Guess DPUs weren't just a warrior race, they seemed to also respect knowledge as well, Noire felt.

In any case, the Satanic Treasures were divided up into several ranks depending on the level of power needed by the user to bind and control them. This meant that those who had higher ranked Satanic Treasures in their possession would have power and ability equal to that of a certain classification. When comparing two Satanic Treasures of the same rank, it depends on the wielders knowledge of how to use them as well as their own individual powers. The vast majority of artefacts and weapons require the user to have exceptional skill in energy usage to bind and use, with some Satanic Treasures doing this of their own accord when an exceptionally worthy wielder is in the vicinity. Not only that, but through studying these treasures, apparently the DPU of Life developed a technique called 'Fiendgod Bloodforging' to either create new Demonic weapons, or improve their existing ones, it even could be applied to Devil Arms to speed up their growth into their Archdevil forms. Yeah, Noire found out about Devil Arms and Archdevil Arms from this too, and aside from this there were still some unranked Satanic Treasures either due to their power being unable to be determined or because they had so little it wasn't even worth ranking them.

The levels for these Treasures would be as follows:

**Unranked** – The weakest level yet also the most mysterious, as it can provide exceptionally powerful Treasures.

**Mortal** – Mortal Satanic Treasures are considered to be similar to Continent Class DPU weapons in terms of power and destructive ability.

**Demonic** – Demonic Satanic Treasures rival Multi-Continent Class DPUs in terms of power and destructive prowess, yet also have their own sentience at this rank. Even if its partial sentience, it can still be considered this level as power without anything to control it is considered a waste.

**Chaotic** – Chaotic Satanic Treasures rival Chaos Class DPUs prowess on the battlefield with the destructive power to boot. Apparently, whilst no DPU other than the Chaos Gods have been able to reach this class, using these weapons is much easier in comparison, should a user use one against a Chaos God, then they would stand a moderate chance of escaping with their lives.

**Primus** – The absolute STRONGEST of Satanic Treasures, yet also the rarest. These Treasures rival the Primus Class DPUs, which was a class only the original four managed to reach through their mastery of the 4 Edicts: Life, Death, Destruction and Fate. If one got their hands on such a treasure yet also reached this level of power, then it would not be impossible for them to become pure monster in terms of sheer ability. Nevermind destroying worlds, they would be able to destroy so much more as in entire solar systems, up to even galaxies.

For example, Noire's own Satanic Treasure Raijin, it counted as a Mortal Rank Satanic Treasure, but because of her lack of training in its power she didn't have the ability to unleash its full multi-continent destroying might. Heck, Noire didn't even come CLOSE to matching a continent Class DPU's level of power and ability, so if she were to ever meet one in battle then she would likely have to fight with the intention of survival in mind, as even with her current level of power there hadn't been any possibility of landing a hit on pre Halo Mountain Nico let alone the post version.

Aside from all the stuff about Satanic Treasures, Noire also found books detailing on other matters, like manuals designed for developing one's skill in different weapons: swords, staffs, spears, Scythes, Sabers, among countless others. She'd even found books detailing many complex-looking Wards she couldn't even begin to understand, as well as Magics which seemed to surpass anything Lowee could throw out. Then, there had been books detailing how to make demonic weapons, armour, constructs, so much knowledge had been stored within this Tower, perfectly preserved even with their faded titles that Noire found herself enraptured by it. One could only IMAGINE how much this knowledge could vastly improve her Nation's military forces, expanding upon their capacities on the battlefield and possibly allow them to better control the Abnormal situation.

Her interest in this Bloodforging Rites technique REALLY tempted her though, but sadly she lacked the materials needed for this ritual.

In addition, she'd found out more about the Temen-Ni-Gru, how it came to be built by a Demonic cult which worshiped one of the DPUs of that era as their patron god. This DPU went by the name 'Hojo', and he had been a Multi-Continent Class DPU whose power had commanded him a fierce and dangerous reputation. One which only lost to the first four members of their kind. During some kind of climactic war however, this Tower got sealed away by Hojo who used the last of his power to hide it away, so the Temen-Ni-Gru would one day resurface. Well, those last parts were what Noire speculated at least, but what the books DID tell her was that one needed some components to truly activate the Tower. Components which seemed to have been ripped out of the pages from the books describing them, so she didn't know what those were.

Oh yeah, she'd also found what Siegfried had been sensing this whole time, and that had been a piece of Orihalcon which, according to her research, had been said to be used as an energy source back in the DPU Era. As she had stored everything she could in her Inventory for further study once this all blew over, Noire did the same with the Fragment of Orihalcon before heading out of the Library.

Moving to the Platform then using it, along with the ones that followed it, to get up the tower felt oddly exhilarating for the blackette Goddess. The very second Noire had stepped onto one of them, it had pretty much launched her into the air like those launch pads used by that academy which trained students to fight black darkness monsters with white masks and red eyes. At the apex of each jump, she had to angle herself just right in order to make it onto the next platform, and if she failed… well, she could always resort to her FAFNIR ARMOUR to get herself back on track. Of course, she could have used it to ascend up the tower that way, but where was the fun in that? Noire got the opinion that if she navigated this place the way it was supposed to, she'd reap more rewards than she'd know what to do with.

* * *

Eventually, when she reached the top the blackette move through another doorway to find herself at a walkway which lead to two directions: outside, or up a staircase which led further up the tower. 'This place…' Noire thought to herself with a frown etched onto her lips. On her back, Balmung trembled as she stepped outside the destroyed walkway, looking around the vicinity. But, unlike before, she wasn't taking in the view of the massive city she ruled down below. Instead, she focused on something… a little more concerning for her. 'This place, it matches with the place Lid fell down from… and I can sense remnants of Demonic Power here…' she thought to herself, worry and suspicion lighting up inside her torso. She didn't like the thought, but if what she had sensed when coming out here was true, then… 'Did Lid… have an encounter with Arkham here?' she wondered to herself, not really expecting anyone to answer her. However, she indeed got one from her inner Heroic Spirit, Siegfried.

_…It seems more than likely, I'm afraid Noire. It's likely that Arkham had been the one to push her off here, and from the looks of things… Lid must have tried to kill him here. We Heroic Spirits are beings who are more in tune with our surroundings, and as such I can feel a lot of built-up resentment here. This young Lid… just what kind of connection could she have had with Arkham to make her so resentful? It feels very personal, which worries me…_

Yeah, Noire could agree with Siegfried there. She wasn't a fool, as much as people may consider her otherwise. Noire had a fairly good picture of this Arkham character just from meeting him in person back in her Office. Lid's words about his crimes had only solidified her suspicions about him, honestly, but even so it made her all the more wary of him. Someone like him, she bet that if he knew of Lid's resentment for him, there would be no doubt in her mind that he'd use that to his own advantage, twisting Lid's feelings in order to confuse her. She may be a professional soldier, and a Spec Ops at that, but right now she likely had a LOT going on in her mind which could affect her judgement. Something which worried Noire immensely since aside from those previously discussed reasons, manipulations like that were well within one's own corrupt nature.

'In any case, we need to get moving. I'll initiate a comm link with Lid so I can tell her what we found in the Library. It'll just be an overview, but for now I think its better than nothing.' Noire replied, already pressing her index finger on her comm device and activating the com channel between them. She spent a short time filling Lid in on the history behind the Temen-Ni-Gru, before she cut the connection and proceeded to continue on her way.

Later, Noire found herself standing by what looked to be an altar, pone she had found in a half-circular room with twisting staircases and an elevator to the left. She'd found this room after fighting a bunch of reanimated statues as well as a bunch of Demons looking like mummies with these large coffins that summoned more Demons. They were called 'Hell Greeds' according to what she had learned of in the Library, which had been part of the 'Seven Hells Demon Army' which had been sealed inside here. More of them had been sealed inside the Demon World of Slaanesh which this Tower had been connected to, as well. But, the important thing here had been that she finally learned of the enemies which she had been fighting this whole time, enemies which belonged to the Seven Hells Demon Army which had been used by the DPU Hojo long ago, an army composed of beings formed from the seven deadly sins:

The **Hell Prides** – those black robed Demons which were recorded to be the weakest of the seven Hells, making up for its weakness with numbers. Aside from being slow and easily defeated, they governed the sin of pride

The **Hell Wraths** – those Suicide bomber-like Demons. In comparison to the rest of the sins, this creature would be classed as the most miserable of the seven Hells, whilst it governs the sin of wrath. It is forced to carry a massive organic sack that explodes when dropped or damaged, taking out anything close to it, and often shrieks in pain. Blades won't work, but guns sure do, as Noire had experienced the hard way.

The **Hell Sloths** – Those white Demons which Noire had encountered first in that… that place. The Hell Sloth were marked as the tallest of the Seven Hells, governing the sin of sloth. It does not walk, but instead only teleports around to ambush its victims. It moans before teleporting; which is an audio cue to watch out for when fighting them. Though slow, their attacks are powerful.

The **Hell Greeds** \- The governor of the Sin of Greed, the Hell Greed cannot directly attack its victims, so instead it uses its beloved coffin to summon other Hells to fight for it. However, it can injure its victim if he gets in the way of the coffin while it is summoning. Noire had found the best way to deal with them would be with her Ashbringer.

The **Hell Gluttonies** \- The Hell Gluttony, the governor of the sin of gluttony, is similar to a Hell Pride, but is slightly stronger and able to fire a blast of sand from its mouths that can injure its victims. Unlike Hell Prides Sloths, Greeds and Lusts, it wields a sharp double-bladed staff.

The **Hell Lusts** – The Hell which governs the sin of Lust (and the most annoying one, in Noire's opinion). The Hell Lust is similar to a Hell Pride but is much faster and able to not only dodge and weave to avoid attacks, but also perform an extremely fast dash attack. However, it lacks the numbers of the Hell Pride. It wears a distinctive jester-like outfit (something Noire had realized the truth of when pondering it) rather than bandages or a cloak. Their dash attacks can be easily blocked with a well-timed block or countered, though.

Those compromised the Seven Hells Demon Army, and judging from what stories she had read so far, Noire felt like this Army couldn't be used to its fullest potential. This place didn't even have the full amount of these Demons or utilized the Army's full potential, as these guys had been weakened considerably over time by being locked in here when Hojo had sealed the tower. Oh yeah, and she'd found an item called Siren's shriek, and just earing the description it had reminded her of that flame barrier back at the bottom of the tower.

But anyways, back to the case at hand.

'Looks like this could be the place for that Orihalcon fragment, don't you think Siegfried?' Noire questioned whilst pulling the said item out of her inventory. She soon got an agreeing hum from the Heroic Spirit, before she reached out with her arm and placed the fragment on the altar. At once, something happened, as the alter shot out two energy beams, both from above and below, to form a gravitational field around the fragment. Electricity surged forth, covering it as the sounds of something powering up filled the air. Not only that, but when Noire glanced to the left, she saw the gates barring her way to the Elevator slide open, letting her access it at last.

A sigh of relief escaped her lips at seeing this. 'Whew, well at least now I won't have to trek all the way back down again…' she thought to herself. As good as it would be to get some exercise walking and fighting Demon ambushes, Noire didn't feel like undertaking that stressful, time consuming journey. Thus, Noire hopped down from the Altar and made her way down towards the Elevator. Apparently, the thing reacted to force pressure, as the moment she stepped inside, the Elevator the gates she had previously opened shut by themselves before the Elevator began sliding downwards, taking Noire along for the ride… instead of upwards like she had secretly hoped.

Seeing this, a regretful sigh escaped her. She hoped this was the right way to go about this…

* * *

By the time that the Elevator had finished descending and the gates opened, Noire found herself back at the bottom of the tower, where she had ended up after defeating Cerberus. With her senses, she could still detect the barrier of flame she had passed by on her ascension up the Temen-Ni-Gru. 'Back down here… #SIGH# well, lets see if I have missed anything by passing that fire barrier…' Noire thought as she once again went to the left staircase and climbed up it, soon reaching the barrier of flame. Behind it, she could just barely make out a large door frame, which likely meant there was a section of the tower she had yet to explore.

Whelp, better late than never, at least in her opinion.

Walking up to the flames, Noire reached to the air beside her, pulling out the Siren's Shriek from her Inventory. To her, it looked like a piece of jewellery shaped like a tear, with a black casing around it which also got supported by this thin, pale blue mist which cloaked it. From it, Noire SWORE she could hear some sort of soothing melody playing from it, sort of like a soft soundtrack played on a music box. She sometimes even heard wailing cries of agony from it, something which had caused her to jump in fright the first time she'd heard it. The sooner she used this thing and stored it away, the better.

As such, Noire held it before the wicked burning flames, hoping this would provoke some kind of reaction. Turned out, she had been right, as the moment it got held towards those flames, the Siren's Shriek's singing got progressively louder, almost like it had become aware of its new audience. Not only that, but the mist cloaking it quickly launched itself forwards like a ferocious shark lunging towards its unsuspecting prey. Despite the incinerating heat they emitted, these flames became powerless to resist this mist, and soon enough before Noire's eyes, the flames got completely covered by the mist. Several seconds later, did the mist evaporate, alongside with the mist surrounding the Siren's shriek… thing was, the flames had also vanished, and at last the Siren's Shriek became quiet, alongside the sight of the door itself becoming completely visible.

'Yes! It worked!'

The device's successful destruction of the barrier quickly gave Noire a bright grin, her eyes lighting up like lights on a lamppost when night rolled around. She almost hopped up and down like a giddy schoolgirl on the spot, had she less any control over herself though so she quickly suppressed her feelings of delight for the time being and proceeded to bypass the door to see what lay on the other side.

When she did, Noire found herself in a passageway similar to the one she had first taken before she had to fight against that giant Gigapede… but this time, she got ambushed by a couple dozen Hell Lusts with one Hell Wrath. Whilst she managed to kill them all, it slightly relieved her that she now knew the names of the enemies she killed. It had been a teeny tiny little pet peeve of hers since she was so used to knowing her enemies by their racial names, like the Banshees or the Abnormals. She COULD have called them Abnormals, but the Demonic Energy she sensed in them would have made that name a bit… complicated to use.

Passing through the entranceway through another door, Noire found herself having to slash through this… wall, of sorts which had a blue crack in it. Reminded herself of scab layers which would form when blood clotted over a wound to repair the skin. Cutting through it with Balmung felt like a piece of cake, too easy… though, it did result in her finding a chamber shaped like a cage.

"Huh? What the hell is this?" Noire wondered after sheathing Balmung and making her way forwards. Just by looking around, Noire got this uncomfortable feeling in her chest, as this place reminded her so eerily much of the few Dungeons she'd seen when sometimes helping Leanbox soldiers fight Abnormals. She may have not liked Leanbox compared to Lastation but compared to what it had been like before Noire realized that it had been MUCH worse, thus it had come far from those times. "This place… it wreaks of death… as if the Numerous piles of skulls outside cage help things any."

Soon enough, the blackette noticed a Damage Wheel over at the opposite side of the cage, so she decided to head towards it. There wasn't anything else around here besides it, so it wasn't like she could do anything else. Once she had gotten close enough, Noire summoned Ashbringer this time, quickly proceeding to slash at it until the Damage Wheel Activated. Turned out that even if Balmung's power resonated with the Wheel, it could still be used by Ashbringer. Huh… the more you know.

In a few moments, the Damage Wheel begun spinning completely with all its flames lit, causing something to happen behind her. Twisting around, Noire became witness to the sight of a ball and chain, a ball big enough for a bunch of average sized humans to fit through, fall from the ceiling. "A Ball and Chain…? Huh, interesting…" Noire muttered under her breath as she proceeded towards it, not dismissing Ashbringer just yet.

_…Noire, make sure to destroy this thing as quickly as possible, for I sense there is something inside of great value to us. Quickness is essential, for I sense the Damage Wheel is only temporarily keeping this thing from rising back towards the ceiling where Demonic Wards will protect it from attack…_

Turned out her decision not to dismiss Ashbringer had been the right one then, if Siegfried's opinion had to be considered… and she did so without hesitation. Gripping the large sword's hilt, Noire dashed forwards as she began to slash and hack away at the Ball, her sword swings hitting with tremendous force. Each hit tore off a piece of the ball, all the while she heard the tell-tale clanking sounds of mechanisms reversing themselves. 'Crud! Looks like I don't have much time left!' she thought, realizing she didn't have long before the ball retracted into the protection of those Wards, Wards she now sensed up above her. 'Guess its all or nothing, then!'

"Alright, DO IT ASHBRINGER!"

Pumping some of her energy into her sword, Ashbringer began to emit a furious golden glow, one which shone so bright that it would have illuminated an entire city's worth of land. Like a hammer brought down by a giant, the large sword known as Ashbringer slammed into the large ball ferociously, causing waves of ripples to emerge and escape out into the atmosphere. As for the ball, which had been cracked, dented and had several pieces of its form broken off… It only managed to last under the effects of the sword for a second or two, before it finally gave in and shattered into tiny countless pieces, exposing what lay within.

Quickly before she could view it, Noire reached out and caught it in her left hand, stopping it from impacting the ground. She then brought it back to herself whilst stabbing Ashbringer into the ground beside her, lifting it so it was at her torso level so she could analyse the object with a calculating gaze. 'Huh… so this was what you sensed, Siegfried…' the blackette mused in her mind, looking down at the hand-sized object. The object looked to be shaped in the form of a human crystal skull, clad by a black, twisting frame which wrapped around it as if it were a set of rings floating around a planet. However, just by sensing this item's energy Noire got the impression that this thing had the potential to be something of a larger creation, a fragment one might say.

'Hmmmm… wait a minute, I think I remember seeing something like this before…' Noire thought, feeling a sense of familiarity from this crystal skull which got stronger as time went on. Searching through her memories, Noire finally got the answer she was looking for as her eyes opened wide in realization. She even snapped her free hands' fingers to further pronounce this moment of comprehension. 'Oh yeah, I remember now! There was a door with a missing piece to it right before I went into that room with the Elevator in it, if I remember the shape correctly, and compare it to this… it feels like a perfect fit!' she thought, staring down with slightly less surprise than before, but it still remained nonetheless.

_…Still, Noire, its best if you, as you humans say, 'better not count your chickens before they hatch'. Just look around us…_

Siegfried's words roused her from her musings, letting Noire lift her head in order to gaze at her surroundings. This allowed her to see several Demons beginning to appear, quickly filling up the space with their presence. Looked like about 10 Hell Greed's, 13 Gluttony's, 20 Lusts and 40 Prides so far, but the numbers kept increasing the more seconds passed. Seeing this, an irritated groan escaped her lips as Noire put the item back into her Inventory before grasping Ashbringer's hilt.

With a swift jerk of her arm, Noire grunted as she had pulled the sword out of the ground as she held it in a ready stance, her eyes hardening as an aura of killing intent swelled up inside of her. "I wonder how many this makes. Ah, who cares, these guys are more persistent than an ex-boyfriend stalker." She simply commented, before she saw her opponents charge at her…

Prompting her to raise Ashbringer and then bring it down.

* * *

After having killed over a hundred of each Seven Hell Demons, absorbing their Souls in the process, Noire returned to the Elevator, rode it back to that room with the Orihalcon Fragment, passed into a room filled with coffins where she had to fight against more Greeds, Lusts and Prides with a few Gluttonies, then fought against and killed that purple Scythe-wielding 'Hell Vanguard' which Noire had recalled fighting before back outside her Basilicom. Though, Noire would have to admit this to herself, that all these battles against the Demons, they had helped her invoke improvements in her Sword Mistress Style, bettering its foundation and improving its individual attributes. Some more than others, but even so each attribute evolved down its own path.

Even if a part of her initially noticed something… off, but she ignored it for the time being.

Eventually, Noire found what she had been looking for, and thus currently stood before a single, Semi ovular-shaped door of an aqua colour. The door however, just like when she'd first seen it before finding the Siren's Shriek, had a 360 circle of spikes jutting out its frame, each pointing towards the centre of its base where two handles could be seen. Not only that, but two pillars stood by both its sides, both of them covered by two sets of crossing chains each. Only thing was, one of them had a crystal skull in the centre of its base… whilst the other did not. Back then, Noire hadn't given this much attention, as immediately after gazing at it she had realized that she wouldn't have been able to proceed through there. Her mind had long since become able to sense when things were shielded by Demonic Wards. As such, she had simply moved on with her exploration, not giving it a second look.

Not the case this time though, as she quickly procured the Crystal Skull from her Inventory. 'Alright, now that I've found you, I can finally start to explore this section of the Tower…' Noire thought to herself as she proceeded to step towards the empty hole in the left pillar.

However, as she did so…

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGG!

"GUH!"

Noire suddenly gulped when her eyes widened, a sudden invisible pressure instantly bearing down on her shoulders, nearly forcing her onto her knees had she not resisted it instinctively. Even so, her head became forced to hang low with sweat profusely leaking out from her brows, dripping down onto the floor to quickly form a puddle. Her body trembled viciously, a sense of pure dread and terror exploding inside her chest like a volcanic eruption, forcing her arms to cover her chest as if to try and pull the pain right out of her, whilst her swords Balmung and Ashbringer glowed brightly, fighting back against the pressure.

Worse still though, the pressure didn't just affect her body after all, it also impacted her very SOUL as well, just like that poison which had infected Nico back at the Gala… only, this felt MUCH more intense, plus Noire could recognize this as a Soul-related matter easier due to reading a few of the stories back in the 'Divine Library' where she had stored all the books into her Inventory from, stories which depicted similar happenings to different powerful figures. '#GASP#... Wh-What… the hell…?!' she shrieked in her mind, her breaths coming out laboured. If it weren't for both her instinctive resistance and her two swords, then Noire definitely would have been forced to her knees, using her arms for what little support they could offer. 'This feeling… it feels like I'm standing underneath a pile of airplanes trying to crush me…!'

**'So… YOU finally MADE it THIS far… IT seems YOU may PROVE entertaining YET… Goddess BLACK HEART…'**

In that moment, a loud, booming multi toned voice echoed within the depths of her mind, forcefully inserting itself there against her will. Noire remained powerless before it, and even her swords glowed brighter as they tried to resist. However, the voice didn't get any backlash from them one bit, so instead they focused more on shielding her soul from this pressure. Aside from them, Noire's eyes shrunk to the size of pupils when she heard it, especially with how eldritch and ancient it sounded. It definitely didn't belong to some mere mortal, in fact it felt similar to those Demonic Bloodthirsters she had encountered a few times after the Gala in Leanbox, as some of them had been capable of speech. Only, this voice felt DOZENS of times more powerful than they ever could be, like a whole league's worth of difference.

Then, panic filled her being not for herself, but for Siegfried, her Heroic Spirit. If she had been hit THIS hard by this pressure, then what about him? How had he fared against this sudden assault? Noire thus, mentally tried to contact him by yelling her thoughts through their link… but she got no response. It almost felt like a hand had clenched around the link itself, preventing any kind of passage from both ends. This caused Noire to become even more frantic, especially when she repeatedly tried to mentally force the link to expand enough to allow thoughts to pass through again, only to be mercilessly thrown back at every turn. She quickly realized, after the 5th attempt, that whoever this voice belonged to, had been the cause for her current dilemma, completely suppressing her aside from her minor resistance.

**'BUT… we SHALL see IF… you ARE indeed WORTHY to… BE my OPPONENT… or A simple BUG to BE squashed… soon. COME, meet ME on… the ROOF… we SHALL duel THERE…'**

As the voice spoke, Noire could not help but note the arrogance, distain and pride which got carried forth in each syllable. It felt as if she had been drowned in a goddamn quicksand full of those emotions, making her feel sick and disgusted with the speaker… as well as unfathomably irritated with a desire to inflict bodily harm. Hey, what else would someone think when experience arrogant behaviour? Just after saying this however, the voice and presence returned from whence it came, causing Noire to gasp out loud as she finally lost control over her body, falling onto all fours. Heavy breaths escaped her as her thundering heart pounded away within her, her mind scrambling as it began the road to recovery from the experience. Yet, even so, she still worried about one person above anyone else right now: 'Sieg…Siegfried! Are you alright?!'

_…I am fine, Noire. That voice just now held power beyond anything I have felt in this era, and while he had you pressured like that he had also been scanning your soul for information. Information about me, no doubt, for he must have sensed my presence. Luckily, I was able to hide deeper in your soul, taking your Satanic Treasure and anything else connected to you with me. If it weren't for Balmung and Ashbringer however, my attempts wouldn't have been nearly as successful. Even so, this being managed to halt our connection, so I couldn't have helped you one bit, odds are whoever this person is likely has access to powers not of this era. However, I do have the opinion that this being is likely the 'master' we are looking for, since it feels like we're getting close to the Temen-Ni-Gru's top. That would mean that this Master wished to test us a bit himself, it is a common tactic seen even in my era…_

So, it had been like she had assumed, then. Noire had a good idea as to what kind of being she would be facing in the near future, not to mention she deduced herself that it had likely been her target for this quest who had done this. They likely wanted to flaunt their power in front of her, try to demoralize her even after she had come this far, too. She had seen a few people who would be underhanded enough to use these tactics, but just like them...it seemed that this master didn't understand her very much, if at all. If this master thought something like THIS would be enough to dissuade her, then he would be considered an idiot in her eyes. Noire had come WAY too far to turn back now, she would be seeing this through to the end, count on that!

With that in mind, a renewed resolve burned away her previous feelings, a dangerous shine forming in her eyes as Noire stood up once more. She then headed towards the hole in the left pillar, placing the crystal skull inside it. Almost immediately, did something happen, as before her the entire structure began to crackle with electricity, electricity which danced across all the chains before her, before they shattered and the ring of spikes sunk into the frame, allowing her passage to the door.

'The time for the confrontation's nearly at hand. Now, I get to see who this so-called 'Master' really is. This master better be ready, cause I got a WHOLE load of things to say to this asshole!' Noire thought with vengeful wrath burning inside her, as she pushed through the door to the other side.

* * *

On the other side, Noire found herself standing before a curving walkway, one which had no walls or ceiling and instead just had one rectangular piece of ground curving towards another door ahead of her. This allowed her to see the rest of Lastation, the fact that it had begun to rain heavily… as well as how high up she had gotten through her trip up here. If she had been afraid of heights, then this would have been pretty much nightmare material for her, but it wasn't so Noire pressed on forwards.

She got to the other end of the walkway fairly quickly, no Demon ambushes at all to deal with. That just told her that her target seemed to be expecting her, which meant she would not have the element of surprise... Like the instance before didn't already paint that picture enough though. 'I'm so close now.., so close to all of this nonsense ending...' Noire thought to herself, shaking from a sudden bout of nervousness mixed with eager anticipation. One side of her didn't know what the heck she would be facing, yet all the same she felt goddamn EXCITED. The excitement of not knowing what she would be facing next felt goddamn exhilarating for her... and part of her worried about that. She may like a good fight, but it had never been this bad before. Not like how Vert had been, and right now Noire was in her HUMAN form. If she were in HDD she'd understand, but... yeah.

Once she had gone through the opposite door, Noire expanded her senses, finding there to be a LARGE source of power up on top of the tower's peak, not moving a single muscle up there. Noire's eyes narrowed at this as thoughts raced through her mind. Despite her earlier feelings, a surge of annoyance dominated her chest at this moment, resulting in her brows madly twitching. 'Looks like this Master's here... finally, we get to meet after nearly 10 chapters! I hope this guy gives us his money's worth, otherwise the readers will be disappointed...' she thought, before grimacing. 'Ugh, Neptune...! Stop influencing me with your meta talk!' she then shook her head and made her way up the spiralling staircase before her, up until she reached the very top.

**(Play OST - Devil May Cry 3 Soundtrack - Vergil Appearance)**

Up top, Noire walked up a slight set of steps, revelling in the comfort she felt with Balmung sheathed on her back, until she found herself standing at the Tower's peak. The peak itself looked quite circular, with a set of statues placed around it save for the steps which lead to its centre. There were also some more... sinister looking gargoyle-like statues looming over it, like they would be coming to life then pouncing at any moment. Noire ignored this though, as she took steps onto the platform itself, finally landing her gaze on the one who had challenged her all those chapters ago.

'This... This is...'

To say she was surprised would be... true.

Standing before her, back turned, was a tall and thin man with gray, untamed hair. What she could see right now was a single, long black coat which went down to his ankles, with the arms ending in large folded back cuffs, exposing his hands. Plus, there looked to be some sort of bird-like creature perched on his shoulder, ikely a pet, with a similar black colour scheme as his coat. Slowly, the man turned his head to glance at her without fully looking, exposing one of his matching grey eyes whilst his bird remained on his shoulder, eyeing her with a similar gaze. To Noire's surprise, the man's eyes looked to be incredibly worn out, tired, yet still possessing a strength in them that made her want to run for the hills. "You showed up."

Upon seeing her, the man fully turned to face her and spoke those words, chilling Noire to the bone. the blackette also got to noticed the rest of his apparel, especially the large collar his coat sported. Beneath that, was a simple grey dress shirt with a blue tie. This shirt got tucked in professionally into a set of formal black dress pants with grey socks and black dress shoes. Over his shirt, was a matching grey overcoat, making him resemble somewhat of an old, wise businessman... save for the weapon he carried on his hip, which looked like a Katana. Shaking her head to clear it of previous distractions, Noire scowled at him as she stepped forwards, gripping the hilt of Balmung with one hand. "Uh, of course I'd show up, especially when your putting my people at risk with this damned tower." she spat, her eyes narrowing into slits.

"Heh..." after hearing those words, the man before her, a snort escaped the man's lips, his eyes shining with mocking distain. "Comradery, is it...? Well, then... I guess I should have expected as such, from such a minor deity like yourself..." he sneered, his voice deep, dark and quite literally one of the most unnerving voices Noire had ever heard. Not only that, but she also noticed how the man's Katana seemed to crackle with violet coloured energy, which took the physical form of Lightning, much to her unease. "Still... I've learned of you, and your history. You really do... fit one of them best..."

"What are you talking about?"

When Noire asked him that, the man stepped forwards, his hand gripping his Katana just below the guard whilst placing his thumb in a position to quickly push it out at the slightest hint of the inevitable battle beginning. "When Angels are thrown out from Heaven, they become Devils; you agree, don't you, Goddess? You, the Angel, tossed out from your place in heaven, having to rely on 'other' means, unnatural means, to achieve your goals. To the eyes of the masses, you became the Devil which inspires great change. Just imagine how much chaos you have already caused." A flash of violet energy erupted through his eyes when he spoke these words, and Noire refused to be a fool for not noticing just how much power this man held inside of him.

Still, his words did have the result of irking Noire further. Just his words alone told her much about him, not just the domineering expression on his features as if he had already deigned himself above her. Like she didn't even matter in the grand scheme of things, which only reminded the blackette of how arrogant Avenir had been in the past. Whilst she didn't think they would be doing anything too major for a while, merely trying to slander and halt her progress of reformation of Lastation (she could recall the hundreds of attempts from diplomatic approaches to downright assassinations). This guy however, resembled to her what they had been like before she had met Neptune and the others: cold, sadistic, ruthless, bloodthirsty and ambitious, willing to do anything to get what they want, not placing the slightest moral scruple in fulfilling heinous acts to reach their goals and achieve a more powerful position.

"You know, I was wondering who would be deranged enough to summon a Tower inside of MY Nation, thinking I wouldn't intervene. If its someone as psycho as you, then that's easily understandable." Noire sneered back, fury rolling off her as her energies began to spark to life. Ashbringer within her soul began to glow brightly, eagerness for combat radiating from its glow whilst Balmung mirrored it. Although, unlike Ashbringer, Balmung's glow felt more like a mix of that, as well as a desire to protect those who called her their ruler from harm. A perfect synergy between these two affinities, like man and beast. Her Noble Phantasm definitely deserved that title in this case. "Well then, since we've established that your the cause of this place..."

"Of course..."

Noire nodded in confirmation, a false smile planting on her lips all the while. That smile vanished and got replaced with a slight bloodthirsty smirk, which got accompanied by the blackette pulling out Balmung in a slow, deliberate manner. "Well then, I guess I have no problems with asking you which you would like to taste your blood: My sword, or..." in one quick motion in comparison to Balmung's, she summoned Luce from her Inventory and pointed it straight at the man before her. "...This?"

Thunder cracked in the dark skies above whilst rain poured down around them, yet the two remain silent in their mutual standoff. Both didn't dare retract their gazes, as if they were trying to win a mental battle right before the physical one would be set to take place, with the intensity in the air thick enough to be sliced through by their individual blades. Yet, neither of them seemed to notice, only focusing on each other, or to be more precise on who would strike first.

Noire's smirk widened as this happened, her eyes slowly gaining a slight crimson tint to them as her mouth opened and words came out. "So, you implied to be calling me a Devil, huh? Well then, I guess the same could be said about you yourself, so we're all just Devils today. Pot calling the kettle black, much?" she stated, to which the man before her snorted once more. He flicked his thumb, slightly pushing the sword out of its sheathe, pretty much confirming for the two of them that the battle had started already.

"Girl, you have NO idea..."


	14. Chapter 14 - Noire Vs The Master

**Chapter 14 - Noire vs the Master**

**(Play OST – Devil May Cry 3 – Vergil Battle 1)**

Instead of Noire going first, she didn't get a chance beyond firing a single bullet, as instead the man dashed forwards, instantly closing the space between them. For a brief nanosecond, Noire got caughtby surprise by how fast the man was, however her instincts kicked in just in time to knock her back into a state of mind where she could promptly react. Not only did this man close the distance between them though, but he also dashed right past her whilst slicing towards her in a diagonal manner which she blocked with Balmung… as well as the invisible slashes which he had done in that moment too. In the end, Noire had blocked all of them with her defensive stance before twisting around to face her opponent, narrowing her eyes at him whilst she prepared herself for any follow-ups. A followup which came in the form of the man swinging at her head, resulting in the Katana and Balmung colliding with each other. The force of which sent a single large shockwave through the entire peak. Heck, it even stretched out like the shoclkwave from an earthquake right across the entire Landmass. Noire only barely blocked it in time, and even then her blade trembled against his own. 'Ugh…! This strength…!'

_… This is not good, Noire, it appears this man's strength… if we were to use the DPU Power system described in the Divine Library, then this guy's strength is in the Continent Class. Whilst that is the weakest in terms of DPU Classes, it is still far more than what the current you can handle for long time periods!..._

'Yeah, I can see that!' She may not have needed to hear that from her Heroic Spirit, but hearing it regardless confirmed to her the suspicons she had in her mind with regard to this man's identity. Especially when she saw the violet energies sparking along the Katana's blade, sparks which flew about across the entire landmass. 'If he keeps releasing those sparks, just how damaged will the continent be?!' Noire couldn't help ut think to herself, before they broke away, repeating the exchange several more times with just as intense a shockwave as thwe first coming from each clash. Each time though, Norie felt numbness grow within her arms in greater quantities the more slashes she took head on, resulting in her aamping herself up with ELECTO CHARGE then summoning Ashbringer onto her back, then activating her LIGHT DRIVE to get the speed boost needed for her to catch her opponent off guard.

Her efforts got positive results, much to her relief when one of their clashes managed to push her opponent back, the man having jumped into the air and made multipme bac flips to avoid several of her slashes as well as the following VACUUM SLASH attacks aimed to slice his limbs off whilst in mid air. When he landed, the man looked to the woman he had taken as his opponent and saw her already at him. "Not bad, I guess…" he muttered beneath his breath in a mix of mockery and complimenting which only serve to make the mocking all the worse, not at all winded by these circumstances before he vanished, his form seemingly fading out of existence itself which caused Noire's attacks to hit nothing but air.

'What?!'

"But then again, you do suck worse than a donkey's balls."

SLASH!

"GAH!" The man smirked slightly, his eyes shining with a sadistic pleasure when he saw how his Katana cut through the blackette's back diagonally as easily as a knife through paper. Blood exploded outwards from the wound, causing it to splatter across the ground behind her whilst Noire stumbled forwards. Still though, the blackette didn't let this get her down as she twisted around, launching another VACUUM SLASH at her enemy. Said enemy vanished again, but this time Noire jumped into the air itself, flipping over a slash which would have cut her legs off if she hadn't dodged.

While in mid-air, the man twisted around for a reverse slash, one of which Noire angled Balmung to block. Unfortunately for her, whilst she managed to block it, since she couldn't parry or deflect it in time, she ended up getting sent flying towards the edge of the peak. Luckily, she managed to grasp one of the statues in time and, using a mixture of parkour acrobatics and the prior momentum, flipped around it as if the statue were a tall pole before shooting right back at her enemy. Lightning danced along Balmung's blade, fuelled by both her ELECTRO CHARGE as well as Raijin's power when her Satanic Treasure connected to her brain to unleash more destructive bolts. The moment the two collided once more, energy bolts got let loose from BOTH weapons, filling one half of the entire landmass as well as half the city itself.

_…Noire, you must not take him head on like this, his strength behind his sword is too great. You will suffer severely if you do not change to a different approach…_

'I know that, Siegfried, trust me I'm working on a plan…' Noire countered, gripping Balmung's hilt as she jumped back to et some distance. All the while, a grin grew across the man's lips as he bent his spread apart legs whilst sheathing his Katana sword at his waist. 'That stance…! I know it! It's a quick-draw stance!' Noire realized, though she did end up being unable to avoid the coming onslaught. The surrounding space gradually became distorted in a sort of V shape, bending the surroundings to Noire's confusion until she gasped in pain when the man drew his Katana, made a few quick slashes which created several eruptions of violet energy around her, before sheathing his sword.

'Argh! Spatial distortion?! Seriously?!'

Despite the pain she had found herself in with more than a few wounds to speak of, Noire still managed to retain a stable sense of mind. She'd already grown a steady pain tolerance from all the painful battles she had fought, so something like this would be nothing to her. Fortunately, Noire managed to tank those slashes, but fell onto one knee afterwards. She didn't get much breathing room though as she had to hurriedly side flip, avoiding a quick draw slash from the man as he dashed past her, then flipped towards her like a sausage. Gripping his Katana's hilt, he drew it out into a downward slash, which Noire activated her ZANDATSU to dodge before twisting into a revers horizontal slash towards his side… only for the man to vanish YET again, but while the ZANDATSU remained intact.

"Altering your time perception won't save you, girl." Noire's eyes trembled, as she didn't have any time to be shocked by the fact someone had been fast enough to evade her whilst she had activated her ZANDATSU, as she quickly raised Balmung in the direction she heard the voice come from to block a slash towards her chest, sending her flying backwards. If not for stabbing her sword into the ground, then she would have definitely been blown off the Tower's peak.

Just looking at the man's sadistic grin set her nerves and fury into overdrive, causing a growl to emerge from her throat as she got up, just a second before he had already charged at her while making several quick draw slashes at her. Noire managed to block the first two, then twisted around the third one before she pumped Balmung with Lightning, swinging it towards his back. Just a second before it could impact him though, did Noire halt it, switching to an upward slash which caused the man to twist himself like a sausage, avoiding both it as well as the following VACUUM SLASH.

Noire wasn't done however, as she launched a second one after a downward slash, though this time the man repeated the movements which he had used to land all those slashes on her before. Several spaces before her attack became distorted as multiple slashes appeared, cutting the VACUUM SLASH to pieces.

'Tch, at this rate, I'll have to use my Balmung's signature attack: TWILIGHT WAVE…' Noire thought to herself whilst jumping back when her opponent appeared where she had been with a horizontal slash which could have cut through her throat. Sliding to a halt, she held Balmung in a defensive stance, all the while mentally activating Ashbringer's LIGHT FLASH to heal her wounds. She could feel its energy erupting through her like a nice warm lamp bathing her skin with its heat, which in any other circumstances Noire would have appreciated much more than what she did right now. 'But… I would rather save that attack as a last resort, since its so destructive. Luckily, unlike the battle against Cerberus I can aim it upwards or away from Lastation, which will minimize casualties. I just hope it'd work, since the attack is still quite draining to use…'

_… It may be your only option right now, Noire. As you have probably guessed, this man isn't even NEARLY going all out. I cannot even begin to fathom how much power he has, but I can definitely say he isn't even considering you enough of a threat to take seriously. He's just playing with you at this point, since he's had over 300 chances to kill you, yet he didn't. This man… _

'Yeah, that sounds about right… when you clash swords with someone, you tend to get a better grasp of them than what words can describe. This was something I learned a while back, and while it indeed sounds quite barbaric, I've since learned of its validity. From what I felt from this man's blade, my earlier thoughts about him may as well have been one MASSIVE understatement…' Noire responded to her Heroic Spirit, an angry brow twitching madly despite the calm look on her features. Oh, how she would relish the chance to be able to cut this asshole, as even up until this point none of her attacks had managed to leave so much as a scratch on him. It was as if he had a thick skin made of invisible energy around him or something, which bent the space around him to stop her attacks from landing on his skin, which really irritated her. Especially with how she had to heal herself from her wounds which left tears in her outfit, already damning this man to hell. She liked her outfit thank you very much, it was her favourite! If this asshole cut, her any more then she'd have to replace it!

Unlike before, Siegfried wisely chose not to comment about a lady's love for fashion. He'd learned his lesson with the hair incident, and even now he still felt his ears ringing from the verbal lashing she had given him. Still, instead of trivial matters, Siegfried pondered the situation with a worried frown, as much as he loathed to admit it, it looked like the only other option aside from THAT happening, something he wished she would have a sufficient level of ability to draw out Balmung's power beforehand, it looked like she would have to use the Noble Phantasm's signature attack if she wanted to stand any chance of defeating him. It would be a better alternative than THAT at least, heck it had possibly already started with some of the things he had observed about her personality, especially when she entered the battlefield. Another problem would be the reload time, but that would be a much easier one to solve in comparison.

Back outside, Noire raised Balmung in a horizontal position to block an overhead slice, then angled her sword to the side to send it away from her, launching a kick to his stomach. The man defended by jumping back though, quickly going into his quick draw stace and launching that spatial manipulation attack he did, to which Noire countered by activating ZANDATSU and jumping over him, landing behind him and away from the attack's range. The technique vanished right after, since she found it pointless to use it like she normally would if this guy could still move that fast even in ZANDATSU, so Noire summoned more Lightning from her Raijin. She then threw her hand out and launched a volley of Lightning Bolts at her opponent, each one moving with the speed a Lightning strike would normally have. Unfortunately for her, the man practically blurred out of sight, moving in between the bolts to close the distance with a side slash aimed for her neck.

Bending backwards, Noire barely avoided the slash in time, causing her to mentally sigh in relief. 'Whew, that was a close one, didn't want that to have hit me…' The Blackette thought, a mental exhale escaping her.

_…Noire, you might want to look again…_

'Huh?' Momentarily confused by SIiegfried's words, she did indeed look back to where the man had sashed after jumping away to get some distance… and she got greeted to a very… specific sight: The mountain range which lay at the very north of Lastation completely getting completely DEMOLISHED by the sword swing's air blast. Se couldn't even see any remainders of it. 'Whoa! What the heck?!' she screamed in her mind, shock engulfing her being.

Amused, dark sadistic laughter escaped her opponent's mouth, catching her attention as she brought her gaze back to him. "Hahahahaha, that look on your face, it is priceless, you know that? Though, considering how weak you seem, that last slash would have cut off not only your head, but the heads of anything within that slash's reach… pretty much everything on that portion of the continent. Though, that's none of my concern if I'm honest." He stated, shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly.

For a moment, she stared at him in absolute shock, then the blaze of fury ignited within her as well as sick disgust. "You… You FIEND!" Noire yelled, pointing her sword at him. "Keep my Nation out of this! Several cities were in that direction, damn you!" she bellowed further. Worse still, she could detect that those cities had been hit due to the sudden PLUMMET her Shares had taken just now, a plummet she hadn't noticed immediately thanks to Balmung and Ashbringer. That meant that attack hadn't just destroyed the mountain range… it had done oh so much more than that. "You sick bastard! I don't get you at all, what kind of person would go that far?! What's the point of even putting this Spell on them if you're just going to kill them anyways?!"

"Cause those idiots'd get in the way, simple as that. Oh yeah, do me a favour and keep that useless preach about harming your people to yourself, it disgusts me you see." The man replied indifferently, glancing at his Katana. "There is nothing to believe in. There is no need to believe. All there is in battle, is that there is a winner and a loser. Anyone who can't fight deserve to be trampled underfoot." He added on, his sick grin slowly returning from that thoughtful frown he had on earlier. "Now then, since your not going to entertain me on the bed, though to be frank your boobs leave much to be desired, perhaps putting you to the sword will feel at least marginally more satisfying." He added, flipping his Katana into the air… before swinging his arm out.

Immediately, alarms blared as Noire quickly swung Balmung upwards, her arms becoming covered with cuts from the attack but barely managing to deflect it away from the city… although, a long fissure, one which deeply went through the ground to the point where it had went nearly all the way through the continent, formed all the way across Lastation. Fortunately, she didn't feel that big a decrease in shares, if at all, so none of her cities throughout the continent had been hit. 'That… That's INSANE! Are you telling me his hands can nearly destroy this whole damn Continent?!' Noire shrieked, eyes shaking madly as fears of what could happen if this man went full serous mode on her ass. Everything in Lastation would he held in jeopardy, something she could only defend for so long until her arms gave out, even as LIGHT FLASH from Ashbringer activated to heal her wounds.

At least, at this point Noire well and truly couldn't afford to hold back anymore. Not when this villain who obviously didn't care about how many innocent lives he took posed a threat to their safety. She refused to bring Lid into the equation too, as even with that Heroic Spirit helping her, she doubted that the A Spec Ops Agent would be able to handle anything from this calibre of enemy. With that in mind, the black haired CPU quickly activated her FAFNIR ARMOUR, spreading her large dragon wings flaring outwards as Balmung's Jewel began to shine. Energy began to gradually flow into the Noble Phantasm, encouraged by the wielder as well as the divine Lightning from the ELECTRO CHARGE she surrounded its blade with. Leaning forwards and getting into a position similar to all fours, Noire palmed the ground with her fee clawed hand whilst her sword arm got pointed to the side, ready for a slash.

_…Your resolve is set, so I will not intervene…_

'You sort of did just now, but whatever…'

Seeing the state that the woman had entered, a low whistle exited the man's lips as he cupped his chin in thought. "#WHISTLE# huh, so you WERE hiding a trump card… not like it will make a difference." The man mused, noticing several other phenomena. Like for example how the air surrounding them crackled with volatile sparks of energy, or how the atmosphere gained a new level of weight the more one got closer to its source, being Noire of course. Still, looking at her with the state she had fallen into, especially when he noticed her gripping the ground beneath her hard enough to make craters, the man chuckled darkly to himself, planting a hand on his face. "Ufufufufufu, oh, how this is RICH!" he exclaimed, his face twisting into a sneer behind his hand. "In this world where might controls everything, where without strength you will never be able to protect what's so-called 'Important' let alone yourself, I see this curious sight. You should see yourself. Do you have any idea what you look like right at this moment? A ravenous beast. The same blood runs through both of us, the blood of a beast that wanders, hunting for the blood of others. Yet you don't even acknowledge it!" The man exclaimed, before losing himself in a fit of laughter. That is, after only about 10 seconds before he let his hand drop, his face now one of distain and contempt for her. "How utterly foolish."

With that said, the man sheathed his Katana into its scabbard, getting into a crouch position whilst twisting his hips so his scabbard would be behind him. He then grasped the scabbard with one left hand and the Katana's hilt with his right hand. Energy started to circulate within him, going through his arms and entering his Katana to give it a soft, violet glow. His eyes also began to glow violet with matching sparks erupting forth from the, launching out into the vast city around them. This level of power would be nothing for him, the man determined when measuring her energy levels with his mental prowess, so he didn't feel all that threatened. Heck he hadn't even used a SPEC of his true power in this whole fight. This pathetic excuse for a Goddess…

She'll be humiliated in every way possible tonight.

Both sides stared each other down, each of them pulsating with their various energies which sparked across the surroundings, Lastation being its epicentre whilst the entire continent got covered by them. Although, unlike the violent nature of the violet sparks, the pure divine white sparks emitted from Noire seemed to sport wills of their own since they instantly blasted away the violet one's so they didn't outright scar her Nation. Instead, they each dissipated into thin air upon contact, save for the stronger ones which either left deep craters on some spec of ground across the continent, or blasted large chunks of buildings to nothingness and killing those inside, impacting Noire's shares further.

At first, the two only made minute movements, a simple shift of the foot here, a twitching hand there, not anything which could be attributed to any kind of offensive manoeuvre… until 2 minutes later when Noire let out a battle cry, flaring her wings and engaging LIGHT DRIVE to the max. Her form pretty much became Lightning itself, blasting forwards towards her opponent with her Noble Phantasm poised for a horizontal swing. Seeing this attack coming, the man responded by drawing his Katana, which glowed so brightly that it resembled a violet sun with increasingly erratic energy sparks.

"Take THIS! TWILIGHT WAVE!"

"…"

Just as their swords collided…

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

At first, a bright light enveloped the entire peak, expanding outwards like a certain eye of a certain dark tall tower in a certain dark fantasy world. Inside the light's epicentre, if one could look there without being blinded they would see the two figures of Noire and the man become enveloped by the Light itself, until it completely concealed them from view. As a result, nobody would have been able to see them. All this happened in a couple seconds… before everything starting from the peak itself went up in smoke as a large explosion erupted. It filled the already cloudy skies with thick, dense smoke which expanded over the entire city like an eerie shadow casting itself over the land. Not only that, but the resulting shockwave pretty much caused the entire landmass to tremble in an almost visible fashion. If one were to look at it from one of the other continents, they would have seen it shake about in the air before re-stabilizing itself. The Smoke, similar to how a nuclear warhead's one looked after it went off, filled the air with a scorching heat which came from the two energies combining together and reacting in a most violent manner.

So yeah, it had a huge impact.

**(OST End)**

* * *

Lid sat on a broken piece of pillar, reloading some of her guns when she heard the explosion, a gasp escaping from her lips whilst she nearly fell flat onto her face. Fortunately, her instincts remained on point as she managed to widen her stance and stop herself from falling down. Though, she came VERY close to doing that, something which both dissatisfied and concerned her.

'What the?! What the hell was that?!' The grey haired woman shouted mentally, though she got a negative answer from her 'friend' which would have been, if you guys haven't guessed it and the author had already stated it before, a Heroic Spirit. WHAT that Heroic Spirit's true identity was however, would remain a mystery for some time yet. 'Ugh, shit…! That caught me SO off guard! I almost fell unceremoniously to the floor just now! Luckily, I'm running a solo act right now, otherwise I might cut myself from the humiliation!'

Looking upwards after ranting in her mind, Lid narrowed her eyes in a dark, concerned manner. She could sense that the eruption had come from up there, where she had assumed Noire had gone up to in order to face this 'Master' she had talked about, the one who had challenged her whilst she had been in office. She didn't like the feeling she got from up there though, not one bit. Not only did she get chills in places she didn't even know was possible to have them at, but she also got this cold foreboding waterfall slamming down on her chest right now. Dread and nervousness swirled within her as her thoughts wandered over to the black-haired Goddess. 'Noire… you better not die up there, you hear me? The people will need you after all this is said and done…'

* * *

Back at the top of the Tower peek…

"Ugh… guh… man, that smarts…"

As the smoke began to clear, Noire herself who had been lying on the ground face-first, groaned to nobody in particular as she slowly stumbled upwards, settling for a Japanese sitting position. The blackette did look like she had seen better days honestly, her ribbons had been destroyed resulting in her hair flowing downwards, her outfit had been ripped apart so much that her boots were gone plus her stockings and garters, her skirt looked to be in tatters whilst her dress now showed her midriff. Even some underboob if one looked hard enough, though any perv who tried to do so would likely get a fist full of feminine fury to the face for their troubles curtesy of the queen of Tsunderes herself. In addition to that, her arm wear had been shredded, to rags, this didn't even BEGIN to address all the various cuts and lacerations the blackette had on her like they were clothes to be worn, one particularly nasty one going damn diagonally across her face like a sword had tried to cleave her face in half. Obviously, this also meant her FAFNIR ARMOUR had been forcibly disabled for the time being, having taken too much damage which forced her back to human form. Beside her, lay Balmung though the Noble Phantasm didn't look too good itself. Especially with all the cracks along its blade which looked like it would shatter at any moment now, the same could be said for the Ashbringer as well since it also looked like it'd fall apart at any second.

Looking at all this stuff which had happened and comprehending it all mentally, Noire couldn't help but think one thing to herself as her teeth gnashed together when pain exploded from her injuries. 'Looks like… I may or may not have just barely come out of that alive…' she thought, which she soon got a confirmation from Siegfried himself on.

_…Indeed. It is rather miraculous that you did, actually. Whilst not at full power, that strike from that man WOULD have obliterated both you and your very SOUL from existence. I found out during the second your weapons collided, both I and Ashbringer had to do all we could in order to keep your soul from vanishing off the face of the earth. Apparently, this man has powers to destroy souls which he infused into his energy, making it so that whenever he uses larger attacks, the enemy's souls are always affected, and not in a good way. It doesn't help that we had to keep your body intact, that FAFNIR ARMOUR proved to last about… let's just say 2.3 seconds before blasting apart. As a result, both Balmung and Ashbringer have been severely damaged and are unusable for you, at least temporarily whilst they return to your soul to regenerate. In the meantime, you only have two weapons available to you: your rapier, HF Blade…and Dragon Fault…_

'… So basically, two weapons, then?' Noire retorted, mentally sighing in exasperation when she recalled just how heavy that massive Sword had been. There would be zero chance for her to use it in battle at all, let alone killing someone as fast as this man who, according to her senses, remained alive after that attack. Heck, his energy didn't even look like it had been impacted that much from Balmung's signature ability. 'Tenacious bastard… lording himself over me like he's some sort of god… oh wait…'

SLASH!

A sword slash went through the air, clearing the debris around them. Noire quickly looked up, using one arm to cover her breasts whilst summoning her HF Blade, her other weapons vanishing inside of her, Balmung's sheathe included. There, she saw the man who had reduced her to this state, shredding her outfit (darnit, this was her last set, too!) and covering her with lethal wounds. His form looked just as it always did, not a single spec of damage on him as winds chopped up, causing his coat to flutter in the wind. His Katana, sheathed in its scabbard, rested at his side like it had never been drawn this whole fight.

"Grrr…!" Refusing to give up even with her power mostly exhausted, especially her Shares being damaged the way they had been resulting in them being way too small for use, Noire lifted herself off her HF Blade. In a flash, she summoned Ombra and fired several times at him in rapid succession. As he saw the bullets coming though, the man unsheathed and twirled his Katana so fast that he actually caught each bullet, lining them up on the ground before him with his blade. He then swung the said blade at her, launching the undamaged bullets back at their owner. Fortunately, Noire managed to activate her ZANDATSU in time to slice them all up, leaving nothing but empty shells on the ground.

Seeing this, the man scoffed whilst rolling his eyes. "I guess you were fine… for a distraction, at least. Nowhere NEAR a proper opponent though, but then again that's what happened. When you DON'T do whatever you can to obtain power." The man spoke, stepping towards Noire who, with most of her strength gone, fell to one knee whilst using a hand to grip Her HF Blade's rear end like a cane, the blade impaling the ground so she could use it as support. Stopping right before her, the man stared down at her, silent like a hawk for a moment… before raising a hand and backhanding her, causing her to gasp as she got sent towards the edge of the peak. "Useless bitch."

Just as she began her flight path, the man swiftly reached out for her neck, and plucked from it the pendant of which she carried like it had been taking candy from a baby, before twisting around to leave as he heard her slam into one of the statues. Just as he stepped past her fallen HF Blade however… the man suddenly stopped mid stride, an idea coming to his mind. "Hmmm… I guess it would be a waste to have such a worthless existence continue…" he muttered, thoughtfully as he began to ponder on what Noire's fate would be. Should he kill her? Should he not? Decisions, decisions… 'Well, its not like I have any use for her anyways, she's hardly fitting to be my toy, nor can she fight back against me. Though, she might become an annoyance, she seems like the stubborn sort after all…'

His eyes glanced behind him when his senses picked up faint movement from his fallen opponent, and in that instance his mind got made up. "Ah, forget it. Not like she'll be much good alive anyways." He muttered under his breath… before appearing before her with her own blade in hand, impaling her lovingly through the chest with it. A loud gasp tore through her mouth and her eyes shot wide open at the sensation of her blade piercing through her chest, the coldness of the blade's metal QUITE uncomfortable to touch with her insides.

Taking a step back, the man noticed a presence behind him, though with a lack of killing intent behind it. "Vicious… Do you finally have it?"

"Yes." The man replied, glancing behind him at the approaching scholar. The man glared down at Noire for a moment, before turning back to Arkham with a look if distain. "Do not sneak up behind me again, you may not live to regret it." He warned, dangerously. "Still, now the spell cast on this tower will be broken. That idiot who retreated in the great war shall finally have his comeuppance." Vicious stated, to which Arkham wisely chose to remain silent. He knew well this man's temperament, it could easily be invoked on to him along with either a Katana blade, or something even more sinister. Still, the Scholar glanced down at the fallen Goddess, noticing how low her Shares had become, which prompted a hidden disgusted snort.

Goddesses tend to LOVE having Shares, coming to rely on them since they were the representation of the faith in them by their people. A disgusting concept for people like him and Vicious, who use self-sustaining Demonic Power. During the battle, a few measly towns worth of people got axed off in their sleep which affected those Share levels negatively, something Arkham and Vicious had expected. Not only that, but with the spell over the city putting citizens to sleep, it wasn't like she would be gaining Shares back from them any time soon. Not to mention similar spells (the source being right in SONY) having been placed across every town in the Continent only worsened her situation on that front.

To use such a fickle, inconsistent power…

Disgusting!

No wonder this pathetic excuse for a deity lost, even with the other powers sleeping inside her.

With one last look at the downed Goddess, Arkham and Vicious turned away, intending to continue with their objective.

* * *

Weak…

Powerlessness…

Failure…

Yeah, Noire, even in her current state, could safely say she had been all three of those and more. As she lay there, unable to move, unable to speak, and just barely able to stay conscious for a bit longer whilst her mouth opened and closed of its own accord. Her vision, once bright and vibrant, began to dim with spots of black beginning to creep along her vision like wicked serpents.

Yet still, despite this, her response to this was...

'Siegfried…'

For a moment, she tried to contact her Heroic Spirit to see if he was alright, if he would share her inevitable fate. Her life, from the beginning of all this, had never truly been her own anymore, well it had never been full stop since her life was also the life of the Nation, but on a deeper level one could say her life was now also Siegfried's second chance at life. As such, if she died like this, then she worried that he would follow suit without ever getting the chance to continue on in this world. But... she couldn't get any response from him.

So, that answered that question.

If she could, she'd gnash her teeth together to express the violent frustration building in her stomach.

'Damnit… again? Am I… going to fail again…?'

So hard… Noire had tried SO DAMN HARD not to end up in this position again… not since Halo Mountain. She remembered how pathetic, helpless, like dead weight she had been in that battle, unable to do a single damn thing against Mundus. As a result, she had to rely on both IF, and then later on Nico, in order to make it out there alive. It had been one of her lowest moments, she would readily admit that to herself. Lower than her time stuck under Avenir's thumb because even back then she had been able to at least DO something for her people, as small and minor as it had been. Back THEN? She'd been unable to do a single damn THING, and that alone stung a thousand times worse. That didn't even begin to account for how she hadn't been able to do a damn thing to that damn Okada Izou, whom Nico had been able to defeat on his own whilst she and the other Goddesses nearly got their asses whooped by him.

That helplessness… Noire had never wanted to feel it again, and so afterwards she had THROWN herself into her training. She practiced her swordplay; she rewrote it from the ground upwards so she could maximise the use out of Balmung and Ashbringer. She even decided to give up on her original stance with the intent of selling her Rapier (even though she tried and found she couldn't quite let it go, since it had personal attachments to her), so she could completely focus on her Sword Mistress Stance. All of it had been fuelled by her desire to never be that weak every again, to never again experience that helplessness, as despite her misgivings about it, that had been one of the FEW times where she'd be able to experience it with little consequence. What about whenever a national emergency happened, would she still be able to be like this? Nope, not one bit. Everyone in Lastation looked up to her as their ruler, even though that isn't as true as it had been in the past, so she COULDN'T afford to be helpless.

She'd be willing to do more training than actual work for her nation, which wasn't something a Leader should do. Everything a Leader does is done with the safety of their people in mind, she could count on her single right hand how many tyrannical rulers lead long happy lives without being quashed by rebellions and revolutions. She didn't want to be like those people, even if she had been like that at one point herself... much to her eternal shame. This fact of leaders and their relations to their people, was something she only FULLY realized and comprehended at this current point in time. She'd been ruled by her own emotions back then, something which hadn't changed ONE BIT since she first returned from Celestia… and she bet that Siegfried had known about this. Why he hadn't said anything, Noire had only one guess: that he wanted her to see for herself what she had been doing.

Oh, how disgusted with herself she felt.

This was pathetic, PATHETIC! She should have done better! She HAD to get better, she HAD to survive this! Not for herself, but for her people! They needed her right now, if she fell at this time then who would stop Arkham and that bastard Vicious?! Lid? No way, she'd be mincemeat if Vicious got his hands on her, and Arkham likely wouldn't let her live any longer either! That's why… she couldn't let herself die like this! Her strength, her strength which had been growing weaker and weaker by the second thanks to this wound… and the lack of Shares from her unconscious citizens… she needed to get it back! She had to, she MUST!

But... if she wanted to do everything she said she would, and by the Goddesses she did, then she'd need power. The power to protect her people who should always remain top priority, to protect her comrades who fight beside her, to protect herself so she could continue doing those previous things. What those guys said to her, and what has been the generalized opinion by pretty much everyone in the world, about might ruling everything... as tired a concept it has been stressed in this story, it still had its merit. She fully understood this now. Without strength, one can't protect anyone or anything. That was why so many people took the path to power in the first place, before their ambitions fall to selfish personal gain. Some even have this selfishness from the start, and at one point even she herself had been like that.

Still, deep down, Noire felt it inside, the most important desire she had which would lead her to her goals, more important than her own personal feelings. It hadn't changed one bit.

Power…

She needed POWER!

**'…Is THAT so…?'**

What the...? Who was that...? It wasn't vicious, that was for certain since she didn't feel anything negative in its words. No malice, no arrogance, nothing but this genderless voice echoing in her head.

**'if THAT is WHAT your MIND seeks... WHAT about... your SOUL...?'**

Still, despite her questions, Noire couldn't be bothered with them, thus she answered it with the little mental clarity she had remaining.

'Yes. Power... I need POWER...'

**'Yeeesssss… THIS is YOUR desire... POWER... you WANT... power... #dark, distorted chuckle# VERY well, THEN... you ARE ready. NOW... let THE rebirth... OF the GODDESSS Noire... COMMENCE!'**

BA-BUMP!

* * *

BA-BUMP!

As the rain fell upon the motionless Goddess, her heartbeat suddenly exploded in strength, filling her entire body with blood once again. Another one happened, and another, and another, until the body had enough blood pumping through it that the sword impaling her didn't even matter anymore. Nope, not when a power slumbering within Noire finally began to stir whilst a dim, dark silver aura slowly began to envelop her being. It swiftly pushed the HF Blade out of her, sending it flying in a constant spin up into the air. It also unleashed a pillar of water from all the rain which fell down throughout the battle, wetting the peak while catching the previous two's attention.

What happened next, Arkham could hardly follow with his eyes until everything stopped again:

FWOOSH!

SWISH!

SQUEALCH!

One moment the two men had heard the sound of rushing water which got accompanied by something moving at them at high speeds. Or rather, towards Vicious which caused him to twirl around while unsheathing his blade. As a result, the something threw a punch which resulted in the limb used going into the Katana's blade with a sickening squelch sound. Thus, when they looked to see who it had been who dared try to sneak attack them, both their eyes marginally widened in surprise when they saw that it had been Noire... with a few changes to her person.

Teeth gnashed together, face scrunched up in a furious snarl with heavy breathing, Noire glared heatedly towards the two whilst her fist got impaled by her middle and index finger halfway through to her palm by the Katana. Yet, she looked like she didn't even feel or acknowledge this injury as her blood ran down the length of the blade impaling her hand, all the while her own body seemed to be regenerating at high speeds, most of her previous injuries no matter how deep they had been having nearly completely vanished. Each of them sizzled like ingredients in a pan whilst light trails of smoke rose from the wounds, all the while her body kept releasing a pulsating dark silver aura, as if it were a living, beating heart. Her eyes too, were the biggest thing they noticed however: with both of them becoming as crimson as the blood coating Vicious' katana with the pupil having become slitted: the eyes of a Demon.

Seeing this change, the mans lips curved into a deep, dark smirk, his eyes glinting with sadistic amusement as he figured out what was going on. "I see, so a Devil has awakened inside of you as well." he remarked, making to push Noire back and end her once and for all. After all, if this were to continue she would become an annoyance for him in the future, what with the level of potential he could see spilling forth from the Devil inside. However, something else happened instead: Whilst she glared at him with all the hate in the world, Noire adjusted her hand, moving the blade through it and spewing more blood all the while until she could properly grip the Katana in her damaged hand. That done, the Goddess turning Demon grasped it tightly, growling as she tossed him overhead across to the other side of the peak.

'Strength increase... one of the few improvements this form has over her other one...'

Landing on the ground and sliding to a halt, Vicious looked up with surprise, as whilst he indeed thought those words, he still couldn't help thee amount her strength had increased. In fact, if he thought about it, he realized that the Demon in her must have been consuming large quantitates of powerful Demonic souls for its strength to be this great already. It would only grow even more at this rate, possibly reaching the World Class for the countless Demon races, those had the reputation of being WAY too annoying to deal with since the term 'planet buster' got invented by them as well as Chaos and Primus Class DPUs.

Before him, Noire stumbled forwards, the damage to her hand repairing itself at an astonishing rate. In a couple seconds it had completely fixed, whilst a few drops of remaining blood fell from her person, all the while her movements resembled that of a zombie as she maintained her glare towards the man who had caused her significant suffering.

Vicious' smirk replaced itself with a frown, amazement and comprehension aside, this would definitely be a problem in the future. Such a potentially dangerous threat could become a hindrance to his plans in the future, coming to this backwater planet hadn't even been his objective but it had become so when he had learned of the Temen-Ni-Gru being here. That Tower... it served as the only entrance into the Demon World of which THAT guy had fled into during the Great War all those trillions of years ago. Because of the sheer difficulty landing in one such Demon World, it was usually advised to stay away from them unless some kind of portal opened to directly lead one there. This was where the Temen-Ni-Gru came into play, but enough of that. He better take this bitch out now before she realizes her potential and becomes a thundering annoyance.

With that, Vicious made to draw his blade and strike her down...

"Wait."

Until his 'companion' spoke in urgency, causing him to pause mid-draw. Stepping forwards whilst under the scrutiny of Vicious' glare, Arkham (though he didn't even realize he had gone there, worrisome. He'll keep an eye on that shady fuck) spoke further. "We should leave. For the moment, we have all that we will need." he explained, eyeing the sight before them as well. Hundreds of calculations formed in his mind about the potential this woman had before her, reconsidering various variables for the future.

'... What's his goal, here...?' Vicious wondered, frowning as he contemplated to himself. Arkham was someone who he wouldn't trust in the slightest, and NOT because he would be a worthless, incomplete human. The man had an intelligent streak of betrayal and scheming under his belt, something Vicious remained completely aware of. He wasn't someone who took on allies and subordinates willy nilly, he did his homework first. As such, for him to say to spare this wench when she looked to obviously be a threat to their plans... there had to be some endgame for this somewhere. Nevertheless, it wasn't the time to kill him just yet, Arkham still had his uses, so that left him with one option. "Fine."

Relenting, Vicious drew his Katana back into its sheath, turning to the edge of the peak and jumping down. Arkham however, stayed for a bit longer to look at the stumbling Noire. He could sense the imminent eruption of Demonic Power, gathering within the centre of Noire's Core. Every Demon had Demonic Power, just like DPUs did. But, the source of their powers were these things called Demon Cores, which lay so deep within them that normally taking them out is near-impossible. Weapons of such like the sword Soul Edge which existed on different planes would be enough to destroy them, though, which was a large reason why DPUs were feared so by Demons. He could sense the power condensing itself into one such core, which would function as a massive power plant for Demonic Power, so from his research he concluded that should Vicious have struck her down now, the only thing that would happen would be for him to be knocked into a coma from the Demonic Power erupting violently, thus he had to stop him. Vicious had his uses yet, after all. With that in mind, Arkham smirked knowingly, turning away and jumping down after his companion, leaving Noire to what happened next.

* * *

Back on the Tower's peak, the buildup of power flooding through Noire's body reached its breaking point as evident by the aura changing colour. It changed from a dark silver, to a dark crimson red with violently crackling black Lightning arcing around her. Not to mention, how matching black wisps of flame occasionally flickered in and out of existence around her back, whilst sleek black winds gushed along the ground where she stood. In addition, strangely enough her breathing began to grow even louder, gradually rising to such a volume it cold potentially shatter any form of glass in the entire city. This violently swaying aura curved around her, soon twisting into a spiralling shape as Noire bent herself forwards, almost falling onto all fours as she groaned and grunted like an animal... as well as similar to trying to cage something in.

That only lasted a few seconds though... before the REAL spectacle took place.

"Guh… Ugh... UGH... GGUUUUUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The energy around her EXPLODED forth like the eruption of a volcano, her loud howls becoming distorted and turning into ear-piercing roars which spread through the entire city. If SONY's citizens were awakened right now, they wouldn't hear the cries of a Goddess anymore, but the roars of something utterly inhuman raging throughout the atmosphere, causing immense chaos and panic through the masses. Only Abnormals made that sound, and by GODDESS did id sound awful. Even if one put countless earmuffs over their said bodyparts would they still hear it with perfect clarity, like they never had any on to begin with. Winds surged forth from Noire's position, blowing through the air and creating this large dust wave, one which spread through the entirety of SONY's city streets as well as the surrounding landmass. All the while, her form went through a... drastic metamorphosis which remained hidden behind a tall pillar of black and red energy. A pillar which created its own spiralling storm with the Tower at its epicentre, one which expanded across the rest of the continent.

All of this happened for a grand total of 7 minutes, until the transformation finished itself off and everything returned to the way it had been before. The pillar? Gone, vanished just like that. The transformation? Vanished but not gone as Noire herself fell to the ground before her, looking utterly exhausted but 100% undamaged. All injuries had been healed, whilst something lay on her back. What that was, her fading consciousness didn't know of, as finally the strain of the transformation took its toll on her. A few moments later, the toll finally took full effect, and Noire's eyes closed as she blacked out, with the debris generated from her transformation still dispersing around her.

* * *

**Chapter End!**

**Whelp, here it is, the next chapter where Noire finally confronts the one who challenged her... and pretty much whooped her ass from here to kingdom come. Then when she got her big awakening which has been foreshadowed a few times at this point, they decided to leave, not because she would be able to take them out (cause right now she's still got to recover), but because they already got what they wanted from her, in this case her Pendant which she had been stated to keep on her person at all times.**

**Now, this Villain in this chapter isn't exactly the SAME Vicious as the one from Cowboy Bebop, he's actually a Vicious whose traits have been combined with Vergil from Devil May Cry to make this interpretation of him. I didn't see Cowboy Bebop though, so if anyone hates me because of that angle that's why. Thus, I've created a version of him who still has his cruel streak, but also has a strong desire for power. He maybe more Vicious than Vergil though, even if he uses the same lines of both the former and the latter, but their fighting styles are similar in that they both use Katanas as their main weapons. Also remember, that I haven't shown his full power either, he is NOT some weakling human like he was in Cowboy Bebop, he's a monstrous being in his own right. **

**Moving along, Noire's Awakening has been foreshadowed many times up to this point, like I said before. Heck, the best example is in the story title, though I tried not to completely copy DMC 3's thing and used ascension instead. Furthermore, this awakening is something she'll not be the only one going through, as others will be too. But unlike DMC3 Dante's awakening, this one surpassed his in size, scale and intensity, though I believe this is simply due to the technology of its time which limited how much they could show the scale of Dante's Awakening of his Devil Trigger. Plus, unlike that Devil Trigger, hers is a bit.. special, in more ways than one which has also been foreshadowed. Mark my words, when these characters with their own versions of Devil Trigger access them, you ill be surprised at what I've done to make them fit for OEG's power scaling systems. **

**I think that's it for now, oh yeah not everyone's getting a Devil Trigger, like Lid for example. Its possible she MIGHT gain a Devil Arm though, but we'll see since I have already armed her with a Heroic Spirit. With all that said and done, look forward to the next chapter, ya'll. **

**Peace Out!**


	15. Chapter 15 - A renewed Resolve

**Chapter 15 - A renewed Resolve**

"I told you, I didn't want her to be… With how she was handling things, she'd…"

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"You keep saying that, but…"

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"Alright, I'll admit that, however…"

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"With everything going on, do you really think…?"

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"That may be so in YOUR country, on the other hand…"

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"You know as well as I do how violent it is, and her body's…!"

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"Do you really want us to die?! That would…!"

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"?! You…!"

* * *

Darkness...

Blissful oblivion, it had all been something she had been accustomed to for a while now... and for some reason, it felt so goddamn nice... like she finally got the chance to take a good rest after a long time of being active. It felt weird to her at first, but eventually she had just let it happen naturally. It wasn't like it did her any harm to just bask in this moment of pure peace, right?

For a long time, she had felt like she had remained unconscious, trapped inside the blissful land within her mind. Although, every now and then she would sometimes hear voices arguing with one another, and she swore she found them to be quite familiar. However, for the life of her, she couldn't recall what it was that drew her to them, though she did recognize one as a man's voice. And the other… she couldn't tell, to her it may as well have been mixed between babbling and gargling on different vocal levels.

Both of them didn't seem to be getting along right now though, in fact it could be safe to assume the two had some… hostile, relations. At first though, everything about them had seemed calm and civil whilst they talked… about something, she didn't know what due to how distant the two voices sounded, but she did get the feeling that she herself had been the main topic between them.

However, as time passed the tensions between them increased as well, to the point where they now had… this kind of relation. It seemed to be originating from the gargling voice, which she figured she couldn't hear properly due to the current state she must have been in, as memories flowed into her mind as blurry as they did. Memories of someone… someone looking like her fighting some man in black before being ultimately bested. Who was she…? Why did she lose like that? Who had been that man? She didn't know at first, but as the memories got clearer and clearer, the realization of the girl's identity became known to her. As a result, if she'd been able to gasp right now, then she'd have done so.

The girl in the memories… had been herself! Noire! CPU Black Heart of Lastation!

This revelation seemed to act like a trigger, and as a result a whole river of memories flowed back into her mind as she recalled every last detail. Of how she came to the Temen-Ni-Gru upon being challenged then worried for her people's safety, of how she'd been ambushed so many times by different Demons which she had later learned the names of from the Divine Library, of how she learned much more about the DPU Era through that same Library alongside some… very interesting information about her enemies, the DPUs. There's been so many books containing this knowledge in a language unlike anything Gamindustri had ever known, yet for some reason she herself had been able to read it easily, too easily in fact as she hadn't even registered the fact that it had been done in another language up until now.

Seeing and sensing this dilemma, she quickly realized that if they were to continue talking like this, she'd never enjoy this proper rest like she had wanted. Thus, with a groan, she woke up to see if he could set those two voices straight.

Just like she usually did with her staff members whenever quarrels broke out.

* * *

Opening her eyes, Noire groaned as her consciousness finally awoke 100% of the way this time. Though, it soon turned into a hiss when she felt a 'pulse' shoot through her noggin resulting in a searing headache. 'Ugh, I might need to get some aspirin after all this, these headaches are going to drive me up the wall…' she thought with irritation blossoming within her like a cancer. Luckily Goddesses couldn't get any cancer types, so that was good. Still, when she recalled what she had heard during her unconscious state, Noire's eyes sharpened into a blade-like state as she stood up and looked around, finding herself to have come to in the Dreamworld.

'Well, that makes sense, since I heard them talking directly, Siegfried and… well, whoever it was who had angered him.' Noire thought, half relieved she had woken up in such familiar setting and half concerned for her Heroic Spirit. For one, she hadn't seen him blow up like she had heard before, ever. Not even when he showed his displeasure, did he truly yell at someone. Normally, the guy remained constantly composed and unmovable like a rock, and whenever he DID disagree with something, he spoke with more of a displeased tone than outright anger. So, to hear him lose his cool like he had, well, it was a first for her… so she worried for him.

Therefore, her first priority on the rapidly developing list was to locate the man, then the next thing she'd do was make sure he'd been okay since she got knocked out.

"Ah, your awake… well, that's a bit of a stretch considering where we are, but the result is the same."

… Apparently, the plot wanted her to find him too, because she heard his voice from right behind her. Turning around, the blackette's eyes found themselves gazing upon him, and when she did an instant sigh of relief escaped her lips. "Siegfried! Whew, thank god you're alright…" she remarked, her shoulders dropping at the sudden tension decrease. "Y-You idiot! Here I am, worrying you'd be worse… off…" At the start, she began expressing her worries about his safety, not something she usually did, when she noticed a little something extra… there was someone with him, someone whose form loomed over her and Siegfried like a giant. Thing was, she recognized this person…

"Y-You!" Noire screamed, raising her hand and pointing accusingly at the person beside Siegfried, who just facepalmed at the reaction she just had. Heck, she swore she heard him mutter 'as expected…' under his breath for some reason. Nevertheless, these things didn't register in Noire's mind for longer than a couple seconds as she focused on the main priority here. "I know you! You're Wolvrik, from the Gala!" she yelled further.

Yup, that's right.

Before her, standing next to Siegfried, towering over him as if he were intending to cast a shadow over the Heroic Spirit, was Wolvrik, the very same man she had thought she had killed so long ago. He looked pretty much the same as she had last saw him back when they had fought at the Gala, him leading a horde of men and monsters against her and her companions. Thing was though, that the man looked to be wearing a different getup, consisting of a simple leather dark blue shirt, tan-coloured pants tucked into some black boots. On his back, were his signature sword and shield combo, whilst his eyes… they looked to lack an iris and a pupil. At first, she shuddered at those eyes bearing down on her, before she noticed other… inhuman features which separated him from the man she had killed. For example, the large bat wings which protruded from his back, the ears which protruded out the top of his head, and the fangs he had instead of human ones. Other than that, he resembled Wolvrik quite well… Which wasn't something Noire wanted to think about.

Siegfried shook his head and sighed mournfully, just before Noire could summon any weapon she could in order to strike Wolvrik down. He shook his head while holding the side of it with one hand. "I knew this would happen eventually, but I still didn't look forward to it any. This may look like him, Noire, but I assure you this isn't the same Wolvirk who you know. Recall the last moment between the two of you? Before the man fell to your blade, what did he do?"

Thinking back to that moment in the Gala found itself to be quite easy for Noire, especially with the inspiration standing right before her like it did. Though, it gave her mixed messages which made her think of both the man himself, as well as that phantom figure which had appeared behind him at one point during their bout. That humanoid bat creature with the massive maw. However, she pushed back those things in order to recall what happened when Wolvirk perished before her… and soon, flashbacks of his last moments as well as the vision and the flame which remained after his passing filled her mind. This caused her eyes to widen in shock as possible theories formed in her mind.

Before she could think on them more though, the Wolvrik imposter stepped up, his irisless eyes bearing down on her to Noire's discomfort. "I grow weary of waiting; do I'll just be blunt about it: You've reawakened the Demonic Soul which Wolvrik left you. That soul is myself; I am Wolvrik yet not at the same time, I merely took this form due to the body which this soul originally possessed before it got destroyed in your battle. When you defeated him and absorbed his fiery soul, you also absorbed me… which has resulted in your body to be marked. You now possess the aura of a Goddess as well as a Demon." He explained, though what he didn't tell her was the last secret which Balmung held. A secret he had been sworn to keep by Siegfried since A: Noire apparently wasn't ready for it, B: According to him things will happen which will be very strenuous for Noire's body, and C: it wouldn't benefit the current her any. On that last bit the two of them agreed after what felt like hours of quarrelling, but the rest they still disagreed on.

"Wh-Wha…?!" Noire gaped at him when he told her these things, her brain working overtime to try and process this. She had just woken up, so her brain still had some cobwebs to it, however from what she understood this thing apparently was the Demon Soul which she had absorbed from Wolvrik, and as a result she has the same Demon which had been a part of him before their fateful encounter. She guessed she could accept that since it had been said that Demons were bound to human souls through various methods like the Demonic Ascension Ceremony, but still questions needed to be answered. "I see… then, what kind of Demon are you? I mean, that guy didn't give me much to go off of when we fought back then…"

At this, a small, yet incomparably devious, smirk formed on the man's face, causing chills to go down her spine. "Hah, you may call me an Appetite Demon. Us Appetite Demons, we are Demonic Spirits who are born out of a Special thing from the ancient past called Gourmet Cells, then choose a host with Gourmet Cells to inhabit. We originally came from the first Ghouls, as they were the beings back then who developed us in the first place before their cells degraded into trashy RC Cells, which forced us to move to new hosts. We cannot reproduce ourselves, and we are appetite in its entirety, thus this is the way we live." The 'new' Wolvrik explained, taking a breath before he continued.

"Because of their degradation, Ghouls are no longer a species we can bind with, unless they evolve their RC Cells back to their original state. Through the millennia however, we faced problem after problem, which forced us to mutate and evolve unless we wished to vanish into the annuls of history. This mutation, led us to become increasingly compatible with the Demonic Ascension Ceremony, which allowed us to be infused with another as if they had Gourmet Cells of their own, though the rate of success is much lower. When Wolvrik first got me, he didn't have very high amounts of these Cells, so he could not use my full power, nor would he ever have. He would only develop me up to a certain point, until… something happened: he fought and died against you." The Wolvrik before her elaborated further while pointing at her. "When you defeated him, you absorbed the Soul I was bound to, and as a result, your soul merged with me. At first, I thought you would be the same way, that you would eventually awaken me and use a similar fraction of my power, but… instead, your soul made me undergo a mutation again. It allowed me to consume the souls of Demons and Monsters alike, although so far it has only happened with Demons, the stronger the Demon the stronger I become when absorbing them. You may call me a subspecies Appetite Demon."

Okay, that answered a few of her questions she'd been harbouring, not to mention it made sense given the lore she already knew about the Demons. In a sense, one could call them Cannibals like Histoire had named them as so early on in the main story, but there was so much more to it that some people might not like to categorize them as such. The thought that she had a source of Demonic Power, something which she had seen the effect of first hand, absolutely thrilled her. Demons may be despicable monsters don't get her wrong, she'd kill any who got within range of her Nation before they could even THINK about harming her people. However, she indeed knew the benefits of having Demonic Power, plus her Shares had been dropped significantly which will see to it her fighting abilities decrease, so using Demonic Power as a substitute would be quite the trade-off.

Still, she had more questions, and as long as this guy remained in the answering mood, she'd ask them. "Then, if that's the case then why did you not wake up sooner? I guess it had been you who spoke to me, before…" she began, only to trail off when she'd remembered her lowest moment so far.

Instead of the Demon answering however, Siegfried spoke up instead. "I'll answer that Noire." He replied, though she did sense some reluctance from his part. "Its thanks to the bottlenecks I established. #SIGH#... Remember what I told you about them? That was not a lie, but what I didn't say was that these Bottlenecks also act as 'safety nets' for beings like this guy right here." He explained, gesturing with his thumb at the larger male. "I placed them because I sensed that, with the power you could use from Balmung as a base, you wouldn't be able to handle these one's so I used Balmung as a… well, measuring tool. The more power you can safely use, the more likely you can control the gifts you possess. By the time you reach the bottlenecks then break through them, more power will become available to you."

"I… see…" Noire replied, lowering her head. Her trembling hands told Siegfried all he needed to know, so he closed his eyes and mentally prepared himself for the inevitable verbal lashing he would receive from her. Siegfried was no fool, he had concluded how prideful yet power-hungry Noire could be. She had immense pride from the very beginning, nearly up to that of tyrants, something which she had been tempering for a while now, but it still existed. Not to mention she had an immense desire for power, a desire which grew the more outclassed she felt whenever they came across powerful Demons, he could only imagine what she would have done as her past self if she'd been confronted by a DPU back then. It was similar to a child's tantrum or their pleas for attention, but he could already see she had been aware of these flaws and had been trying to change them, to become better for it. As such, to deny her the power she sought… well, it wouldn't be a nice reaction, to say the least, even the new Wolvrik looked a little smug whilst standing to the side, an 'I told you so' look on his face.

However, just as she opened her mouth…

"#SIGH# Fine, I'll let it go this time…" Noire stated, causing both males before her to go wide eyed in shock. Siegfried due to his expectations being proven wrong, and the second Wolvrik's due to thinking she would snap at him for imprisoning a potential power source for protecting her people. Instead, she didn't contort to either of their expectations, and when she looked to see their faces, Noire huffed as she put her hands on her hips. "What? Its not THAT surprising, I'm getting stronger and stronger through every battle, right? So, it's not like you're actively impeding me, more like you're repeatedly testing whether or not its safe for me to have more of something. Judging from what you've said, I think the next major bottleneck will happen much further down the line, but there'll be minor ones which I can break through quite easily."

When she saw their faces having remained the same though, a groan of budding frustration left her lips as well. "Ugh, seriously? You guys have THAT little faith in me? I'm appalled, I'm not some idiot who just mouths off every time I'm lied to, only when its was under malicious intent. You two didn't, one of you didn't have the ability to contact me while the other had my safety in mind. It helps that I've known you for a bit, so something like this isn't surprising." Indeed, it wasn't, to her it looked similar to a form of helping someone, not to mention she had always been aware of a desire within Siegfried, a desire he had long since suppressed. That desire was one to help someone of his own free will instead of being asked to by others, since that had been what he had done up until is death. Noire could understand this feeling as well, yet not at the same time but she respected that desire, and as such it helped her push through her initial annoyance of being manipulated like this.

Oh yeah, and it wasn't like it implied that further powers of differing natures could be made available to her, nope, not at all.

Finally, the two males made different faces, so Noire didn't have to worry about them being frozen like that. As for their newest resident, he scratched the back of his head in frustration with a matching scoff escaping his lips, but nothing else. It looked clear, that he did seem dissatisfied with this conclusion, but wouldn't say anything about it since that would end up fruitless. As for Siegfried, aside from sighing in relief, he formed a small pleased smile on his lips as he nodded his head in gratitude. "Very well, then. I will make it so you will know when you hit your next bottleneck, and as for your current level, you have surpassed the first one, your beyond 40%. If I were to gauge you, I'd say you are at 50% right now."

"Eh? Oh, sweet!"

"Yeah, yeah, your getting better now let's get onto the important stuff." The new Wolvrik interjected whilst waving a hand dismissively and rudely. This earned him a glare from Siegfried, but he ignored it and whatever reaction Noire had in favour of continuing, stepping towards her. "Right, first off, those two swords you use in your current form, they're moot still, you can't access them yet. The Damage deal to them was quite severe, after all. Therefore, you only have limited options: you have that toothpick, your long electric sword, that massive weightlifter, and Chaoseater." He explained, causing Noire to twitch her brows irritably when he mentioned alternate names for the weapons she had remaining in her arsenal. Whilst it was true that Balmung and Ashbringer were still damaged, she could sense that, he didn't have to be a dick about it.

Still, what he said at the end piqued her curiosity. "Eh? Chaoseater? What's that?" she questioned, frowning.

"Simple, the sword you wield when accessing my Demonic Power. It'll cause you to enter a transformation, call this Transformation 'Devil Trigger' or something. Anyways, Chaoseater's only available in Devil Trigger mode, but right now its no less powerful than Ashbringer, plus it absorbs the blood of others through direct contact, so drain enemies dry with it ok? It'll not only make the blade more badass, but thanks to the Souls of those stronger Demons you absorbed, ya know the ice pup, those two annoying red and blue wannabes, in addition to my sound it became one badass weapon, ya hear? Experiment with it, you'll be surprised at what it can do. Remind you, this is for when you reach outside… cause you MAY find a little something awaiting you. Whelp, time for you to leg it, cheerio!"

Before Noire could yell out to wait, she suddenly felt her consciousness become black once again, indicating how she'd begun returning to the real world.

* * *

By the time she woke up in the REAL world this time…

'H-How rude! That uncouth barbarian, when I get my hands on you. so help me I'll-!'

At first when Noire came too, she had been furious, and who wouldn't be when they were kicked out their own mind against their will like that? And so violently too, no less? When she'd awoken, it had not been a nice one as she had felt a powerful force almost throw her into the land of the awake, something which she'd took a moment to recover from then began her rant about him. That Demon would DEFINITELY be getting some choice words the next time they met, his Wolvrik appearance be damned! Still, even as she ranted in her head, Noire remained aware of the huge boons and consequences this battle had befitted her with. Boons in terms of potential new powers to develop and master on her path of rebuilding her Nation back to what it should be, to regain the trust of her people. Then the consequences of her previous battle against Vicious.

She remained convinced however of one fact which had been made glaringly obvious to her, as much as her pride hated to admit it: she had lost. She had lost so horribly to that man that she had no way of denying it, and it had been HUMILIATING for her, on so many different levels. At least he didn't comment on her body nearly as much as Mundus had in his gloating, nor did he seem as disgusting as that man... perhaps he was but in a different manner to that other DPU, whose to say? Nonetheless, Noire did NOT like what had happened back then, mentally vowing to herself that, now that she had tasted the power he possessed, she would have to surpass him no matter what.

To do so, she'd likely have to start developing her Demonic Powers which she didn't know how to use just yet, restore her Swords Ashbringer and Balmung which likely would take a while since they seemed to have been badly hurt according to Siegfried, and perhaps start researching all the knowledge she'd gleaned from the Divine Library. She'd mostly skimmed through it and stored the books inside her inventory, so she had more than enough knowledge at her disposal for a whole light full of research, enough to rival those old wizard-types from Lowee who have studies filled with stacks upon stacks of books, journals, research notes etc. Oh yeah, and possibly contact Lid too, inform her so she could stay out of that guy's path. If she couldn't beat him at her current level, then she doubted that even with an Assassin-Type Heroic Spirit that Lid could either.

But before she could do anything...

Huh...? What is this... smell? Ugh, its so gross, it makes me want to take a shower forever...'

Looking down at the ground below her, Noire soon got her answer... and immediately wished she hadn't.

"Kyaaaaaaaaa! What the hell is this?!"

Noire practically squeaked like a mouse when she saw what her body lay its front on. "Ew! Ew-ew-ew! What the heck, what's this disgusting place?!" Noire screamed whilst standing up, noticing how her outfit still remained in its ruined state in the meantime.

Right now, she stood on a wooden platform embedded inside some… sort of fleshy hill. Up ahead, she could see a ruined ship of sorts with a hole in its bottom, whilst all around her seemed to be the… inside of something organic, a fleshy something to be more precise. Not to mention there were two hills on opposite sides of a path littered with small pools of, well, what she could only assume was some sort of green liquid. The stench here though, it smelled TERRIBLE to the nostrils, nearly forcing Noire to cover her nose out of reflex to the disgusting smell. Despite its putridness though, the blackette still held her ground in terms of composure, though she didn't know how long it would take for her to finally snap. 'Siegfried are you there?! Where am I, and how did I get here?'

_…__Calm yourself, Noire. Well, honestly cannot blame you for this, as what this buffoon beside me-you would do well not to swing a fist at me for that, you know what you did- apologies, just dodged a fist from Rik over here. Apparently, he wants to be called that from now on since, because of his mutation, he can't speak with you directly. Anyways, as for where you are… you're in the Leviathan's stomach. The same thing you fought before you came to this tower on foot, remember?..._

'Oh, THAT thing… I see… wait, scratch that I don't see! How the heck did I get into THIS thing's stomach?!' Noire shrieked even louder, panic starting to enter her which caused her heartbeat to increase. The thought of those pools made her realize they were actually pools of stomach acid, and she did NOT want to step in that no matter the cost. Her feet were bare right now thanks to that last battle with Vicious, she didn't have any more proper clothes to wear, that asshole!

_… __That would be this guy's fault as well. He can't tell you himself since his mutation into a subspecies stripped him of the ability to talk to you. When you first awoke as a Devil Triger user, it had an… unfortunate side effect. For you see, it influenced your pride and caused it to become greater than what it actually should be. It inflated your ego to a point where you willingly jumped off the side of the Temen-NI-Gru, pulled off some admittingly impressive sword and gun skills, jumped off its side… before getting yourself eaten by the passing through Leviathan. At this point the effects wore off, and your body has been here ever since, like a puppet cut from its strings…_

'…You freaking serious?! Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod you have GOT to be kidding me! I don't think I'll be able to contact Lid for help; not like she could help me anyways! What do I do?! I don't wanna become goddess chow for this thing, nuh uh! No way! Nope! Not happening over my dead body! Eek, I probably will if I don't get outta here soon!' Noire responded, her panic getting higher and higher by the second. If a certain preteen were here, she'd comment on this place… probably wasn't the best place to be strutting around being half naked, too, only worsening the blackette's mood. It was almost as if she pretty much conjured an imitation of her here for company, or something…

Shut it, anybody who calls her lonely!

_…__Don't worry, I think I know of a way out. You see that entrance covered with tusks there? Those don't look like they're permanently wedged in place, which likely means that there should be something you can destroy to make them move out the way. Destroy enough, and you get a safe passage out here. Though first, I think you should do two things: One, look at the hole in the ship..._

To her credit, Noire did manage to regain some of her composure hearing Siegfried's voice, enough so she could do what he said anyways. When she looked there, Noire saw to her surprise, a skull insignia similar to the one where she went to that place and got Dragon Vault. Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw it… as well as confusion and bafflement, though she figured feeling those would be better than panic any day of the week. 'Ummm… those things indicate those 'test' places, right? If so, then what's one doing inside a Leviathan?'

_…__I would not know. However, if I were to guess, I'd say this beast is just as bound to the Temen-Ni-Gru as the rest of the Demons we've faced, which likely means this interior will be just like the Tower. Support for my claim is that I can sense Wards here… as well as some extremely potent energy sources further in. One of them feels… like a Heroic Spirit! Not like me though, but one summoned as a Servant or something along those lines. The other I'm not so sure on, but it definitely feels unnatural. Lets focus on the skull for now, but before that, to solve your outfit problem, perhaps you should try partially summoning the FAFNIR ARMOUR. Just cycle the Abnormal blood through you like you normally do, but only a smaller portion, enough to only summon the suit itself…_

… Oh, she hadn't thought of that. She'd been so panicked at the loss of her clothes that she'd forgotten about that little trick. '…Wow, well now I feel a little stupid… wow, this is embarrassing… you better not mention this to anyone, you hear?!' Noire mumbled at first, before speaking up with a clear, demanding voice and a flushed face. She didn't know if she could handle humiliation like this constantly from Neptune if she ever found out. The fact that Siegfried remained silent and let Balmung send his acknowledgement through was enough to calm her nerves. Taking a deep breath, Noire closed her eyes and opted to do exactly what Siegfried said, her modesty demanded it of her. Inside, she circulated the Abnormal Blood which got stored within Balmung somehow (she still didn't know where it came from, Siegfried never told her, though she hadn't ever asked either), through her system but in lower quantities. It took some doing but she eventually pulled it off, to her relief. When she opened her eyes again, Noire pretty much jumped for joy like an ecstatic schoolgirl when she saw the suit along with the Armour form over her person. She didn't have the feral facial features like her wild hair or dragon eyes, nor did she have the wings, so this could only be considered a partial summoning of the FAFNIR ARMOUR. Still, it served its purpose, so when she calmed down from the surge of joy in her, Noire continued on…

Towards the skull that is.

Let it be known that she'd been curious as to what trials THIS one would give her, as well as the rewards.

Approaching the skull whilst avoiding the puddles of stomach acid, Noire wondered partially if she had lost herself within all this madness. This wasn't something she would normally do, if she were trapped inside an Abnormal's body like this she had thought she would pretty much lose it and try to blast her way out in a fit of panic. However, here she was acting like it was just another day in the week. Perhaps after everything she had experienced, she had grown… used to just how batshit crazy Gamindustri had become. 'Then again, the crazier one is, the more likelihood they'd survive in this hellhole, I guess…' the blackette mentally mused to herself, passing through the hole and stopping before the Skull.

Taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, Noire briefly pondered on what she would be challenged to do this time, before shaking her head and reaching forth. Part of her believed that she had missed a few of these 'Trials' already on her journey here so far, however as important to her growth as these were, the people were even more so. Therefore, until she got assured of their safety, she likely wouldn't take that many of them. These thoughts of hers remained present… until she touched the skull, feeling the same sensations she had before when she got sucked into that alternate dimension, as Noire vanished from the Leviathan's stomach.

Again, Noire felt herself falling through some kind of space, though unlike before she retained her composure. A brief moment of panic did erupt inside her, however Noire had immediately calmed her heart down by circulating calming thoughts through her mind, till that feeling had completely vanished. Not like she would make the same mistake twice, that's for certain, otherwise she would feel like a complete idiot. Instead, the blackette just let her body get carried off by this force, keeping her eyes closed so she could better focus on the incoming information download which would happen to her brain. If she had her eyes closed, it would lessen the burden on her senses, something she theorized about this transportation process. By the time the information surge begun, she soon found her theory being proven, as whilst it still retained the painful element, it wasn't NEARLY as bad as it had been before.

SECRET MISSION:

RIDE THE ELEVATOR TO THE TOP

REWARDS: PENDING

* * *

After the information surge finished itself in her mind, Noire waited for a while till she could feel like she was actually standing on solid ground again. She didn't want to risk any harmful headaches when she opened her eyes again, plus she would rather see solid stuff rather than… whatever that place she's transported through would be. Still, her thoughts settled when she felt her feet land on solid materials, prompting her to open her eyes… to find herself standing atop an elevator similar to the one she had used during the earlier sections of her exploring this massive Satanic Treasure. 'Huh… Alright then, since the trial's goal is to make it to the top on this elevator… and considering this Tower's previous ones…'

Noire glanced about, searching for her target based off her prior experiences. It didn't take her long to find it, her eyes falling onto a Damage Wheel placed over at one of the walls furthest away from her. Upon seeing it, a knowing smirk formed on her lips as her eyes shined with victory. 'There we go…' Still, even as she thought this and walked towards the Damage Wheel whilst summoning her HF Blade, Noire couldn't help but wonder what kind of tricks this Trial would throw her way. This COULDN'T be all there was to it, she knew this for a FACT due to her previous experiences pretty much screaming at her how sadistic and battle-hungry these Demons tended to be. There would be zero chance for this to be something simple.

Once she stood opposite the object, Noire raised her HF Blade, gripping it's hilt with both hands before she pretty much went to town on the Damage Wheel, hacking away at it to make it boot up. Whilst she did so however… something began to happen in her body, something which Noire quickly noticed as she looked down at herself. Whilst she slashed at her target, the blackette noticed a thin, crimson Aura enveloping her like a second skin, crimson energy crackling down her arms, through her sword and into the Wheel. Not to mention how she could feel something being sucked out of her every time her blade hit the Wheel. 'I see… so in the end, I guess the Damage Wheels aren't actually reacting to Balmung's power but actually the Demonic Power slumbering inside me. No wonder I was able to slice these things with other blades, then…' she thought, quickly understanding the situation.

Seeing this Demonic Energy DID make her wonder how she would be able to unleash this 'Devil Trigger' though, but since she didn't know much about it for the time being Noire wanted to hold off on using it unless she absolutely had to. Sure, since her awakening she could feel Demonic Power nesting itself deep inside her body, right next to her Share Energy too, but since she didn't even know a thing about how to actually USE it, she didn't want to suffer any harmful side effects. Finally, as these thoughts concluded, so did her need to slash at the Damage Wheel, as each of the flames pretty much lit up which let her hear the beginnings of moving chains. 'Alright, now let's get back to the Elevator. I feel like the real Trial's going to begin now…' she thought to herself, returning to the platform just as the chains began to crank upwards.

With her HF Blade at the ready, Noire assumed her Sword Mistress Stance so she wouldn't be caught off guard by anything. Her eyes closed as she started to feel out her surroundings whilst the elevator cranked itself upwards… albeit as slow as a turtle though. Just like the other ones too, now that she thought about it, though Noire couldn't be annoyed by this for long since she soon felt the incoming presences of Demons tearing through space.

'Huh, so Demons are going to try and kill me before I can reach the top, huh…?' the blackette wondered, before looking up to see a bunch of Hell Prides fall down onto the platform too. The moment they landed though, did Noire immediately hear the slowing down of the Elevator's cranking, which clued her in on what this Trial was REALLY about. 'Oh, okay… So, I have to destroy these Demons before they can overwhelm the fragile elevator platform with their weight… should be fun, I guess.' Noire added in her mind whilst engaging her ZANDATSU and beginning to send the Hell Prides flying off the platform. Each time she dealt with one, Noire heard the sound of the elevator's increased movement, which pretty much confirmed her suspicions on the Trial's nature.

By the time it ended, most save for 2 of the Hell Prides had fallen victim to Noire's blade, though before she could finish THEM off, several Hell Lusts appeared on the scene, slowing down the cranking again. 'Shoot! I have to get rid of them, quickly!' she thought, summoning Raijin and unleashing a Lightning Blast from it to try and incinerate the Hell Lusts. Said Demons however, dodged her lightning by side stepping, flipping backwards then charging at her in a md dash, swinging their Scythes at her in diagonal angles which forced her to angle her HF Blade to parry each swing. Afterwards, she WOULD have just decapitated them right there, but those lousy Hell Prides had stumbled close enough to her to deliver Scythe slashes of their own, forcing Noire to dodge them.

After doing so, she began to sense more Demons coming her way, which caused her to sweat bullets. 'Shit, too many and the Platform won't hold! I gotta do something, quickly!' she thought, before she decided to take a gambit and have Raijin quickly connect to her and unleash a large, wide-area blast of Lightning all around her. The blast crashed into the Hell Lusts, Hell Prides as well as the newly appeared Demons with unrelenting force, pretty much destroying all of them in an instant… Though, there would be one catch.

"#GASP#... #GASP#..."

Noire began to pant heavily, her mental energy being quickly drained from that blast of energy as she fell onto one knee, though she soon stumbled back up to her feet whilst using her HF Blade for support. 'Guh… looks like that recent lightning blast Raijin used had a lot more energy to it than I normally use. Must have panicked and overshot it…' Noire thought as she sensed more Demons coming her way. Just as her sensed told her, more Hell Prides, this time accompanied by a few Hell Sloths and Hell Greeds, landed on the Platform, and only THEN did she feel like the damn platform had begun to halt its progress… to stay there whilst trembling violently from the weight.

Heart thumping against her ribcage, Noire quickly activated her ZANDATSU again, cause yeah repeated use of the Skill so many times both annoyed and taxed her mentality since its pretty much altering her mind in many ways. Hence why she used it in short bursts to get the upper hand in battle. With the Skill in effect, Noire dashed towards the Hell Prides, decapitating 3 at the same time before she twirled around and, in a mix of desperation and panic, Noire mentally tried to 'connect' with the slumbering Demonic Power which lay inside its Core within her.

Thus, when she held her hand out, it and her forearm quickly gained a sinister, crimson Demonic Power-generated aura which resulted in a blast of it erupting from her hand with the strength of a sonic boom, the recoil almost sending Noire off the Platform as well had it not been for her stabbing her HF Blade into it first. 'Whoa! That was close…' she thought while staring at the remaining Hell Sloths and Hell Greeds. 'So… that was Demonic Power huh? It was instantaneous, and I had been pretty desperate in that panicked state, but I think if I can isolate the feeling I got when using it, I can replicate that process… better learn fast since more Demons will be coming…' she thought, before charging forth with her HF Blade crackling with electricity.

She'd be DAMNED before she would fail this Trial!

* * *

Deep inside Noire's consciousness, in what would be called the Dreamworld, Siegfried sat in the middle of a large clearing in the middle of a vast forest in the lotus position. His hair fluttered behind him in the breeze which got generated, yet his expression remained as composed and peaceful as ever, like the breeze didn't even register to him. Using the Lotus sitting position like this he had taken to doing thanks to Noire, Siegfried's true actions wouldn't have been seen externally.

The man right now, had been mentally analysing his former sword, the Noble Phantasm Balmung as its energy recovered gradually from the battle with that Vicious character. Just thinking about that person caused Siegfried's brow to curl in concern, slightly damaging his peaceful expression from before. He didn't know what that man's background had been, but with the amount of power he possessed it almost felt like he had a chance of actually dying when they'll inevitably meet again through Noire. Each time they had clashed back at the top of the Temen-Ni-Gru, Siegfried had done what he could to keep his presence hidden from that man's eyes, as he seemed like the type where the man did NOT want to know his true name.

'Vicious... huh? That name... I seem to recall a DPU who went by a similar one way back when... when I was still alive and human, that is...' The man thought whilst he got lost in his ponderings. 'Yes... its coming back to me, when I was a King back then, there had been a DPU who would frequently challenge me in order to prove he was the stronger of us two... I never even recognized him till now since he looks so unlike what he used to, but if its really him...' His brows knitted together, a disturbing revelation flashing through his mind. 'Then Noire will need to IMMENSELY develop her powers if she wants to beat him. Its almost laughable how little he used his power to defeat her like he did.'

Truly, if this had been the Vicious he remembered from back then... Noire would be in huge trouble if she didn't get stronger soon. From his memories, Siegfried recalled just how ruthless, merciless and cruel Vicious had been. In that time, he had been notorious across more than 80 different worlds, notorious for his cruelty, savageness and dangerous potential on the battlefield. Even other DPUs would be weary of him, considering his barbaric nature which seemed so close to the current generation of Chaos followers. Siegfried wondered about that part, like how these so-called Chaos Gods came to be, but he didn't go off topic too much and remained focused on his reflections. Back in that time, Vicious regularly ought against dangerous opponents, forcing his body to undergo changes in his pursuit of power, throwing away things like pleasure and companionship... aside from the casual violating he did occasionally, but even that would be merciful compared to what he did instead. He wasn't even one of the worse DPUs in terms of THAT field though, spending his time destroying entire populations either on a planet or ones in space, it didn't matter.

To a DPU, any conflict was the best kind of conflict.

He had been unparalleled in his swordplay... until he and Seigfried himself met, a meeting which unknowingly to the former King, sparked a fierce desire in Vicious.

Still, that battle had indeed damaged his Noble Phantasm severely, almost nigh on breaking completely. Normally this wouldn't have been possible for a Noble Phantasm since they were connected to the Heroic Spirit, part of their legends. Every Noble Phantasm had great durability, a level which could be described as 'insane', so something which could damage it would DEFINITELY cause no small amount of alarm for the Heroic Spirit. He honestly had never felt so unnerved in his entire life, not even when he faced that dragon Fafnir, then he did at the thought of someone like that being able to break his Noble Phantasm. Luckily, it seemed that Ashbringer and Balmung were both able to rely on one another to repair themselves, accelerating the process which relived him immensely. Siegfried sort of regretted not being able to meet the man who wielded this sword, heck he would have liked to meet the one who forged it, in person if their great spirits would have been like this. They could have become Heroic Spirits themselves, now that he thought about it.

Though, speaking of which he DID sense something off about Ashbringer… he just didn't know what. For some reason, Siegfried had been getting a rather... strange feeling from that sword. A sword whose power seemed to be on par with a Noble Phantasm on Balmung's Calibur. He could even go as far as to say that, should it have been a Noble Phantasm, its legend would have been as well-known and of a similar magnitude to King Arthur's, a Legend of which the former King had learned was still told between soldiers and warriors even to this day, one of the most popular legends. In any case, the feeling of a Noble Phantasm... slowly, Siegfried began to refer it to one in his mind, even before he realized this fact, and that perplexed him. That sword, that sword which contained the holy light which had been the hopes of humanity for over 500 years... he could not see it as an ordinary sword.

This had been something of which would be referred to as one of the few things that he and Rik agreed on. The mighty Appetite Demon variant did NOT like getting anywhere near that sword unless he had Chaoseater's essence close by to devour its radiance, a radiance which spilled forth endlessly. The opposing nature of his own energy seemed to be the cause of this, Siegfried had noticed, especially when one time he had been exposed to so much off the blade's light energy, albeit a weakened version thanks to its condition, that it almost destroyed him outright. If he were to gauge it's light, then even now it would have likely surpassed the light which that young Nurse, Compa he thought her name was, possessed by being a Spirit. So... to consider what it's light would be like when it once again returned to full power...

In any case, Rik didn't ever go near it carelessly ever again, something which roused amusement within the former king as it gave him... no small amount of leeway over the Appetite Demon. Soon as he began misbehaving (which he did so regularly), Siegfried 'threatened' to have him pay a visit to Ashbringer, it'd shut him up quicker than Noire when she is working on paperwork during a sugar rush. It amused him immensely, providing some quality entertainment by playfully mentioning Ashbringer's name and watch the Demon go crazy. Not really like him to be sure, but the legends never did specify what he did on his downtime, nor any of those drunk episodes he got with his long time friend and brother-in-law.

'Oh, how my wife Kremhild would punish me the next day of each drinking party with the men...'

Let it be known, that Kremhild held more of the pants in the relationship behind closed doors. Thinking back to those times made him smile in nostalgia, the worries of his heart calming like chaotic storm waves becoming silent and still. He remembered her smile when he told her about his day or flirted with her, the joy they both experienced upon his marriage proposal (after a painstakingly long amount of courtship between the two) and their wedding day, of the fury she would expose when she saw how arrogant some of his ministers treated lower class folk which prompted him to try and hold her back. Thinking of those days made him feel like things had turned out alright all things considered, as while he may never meet her again in this life, at least she would be at peace knowing he himself remained perfectly healthy.

But seriously, jokes and fond memories aside, with the first bottleneck gone and by proxy the Demon Power within Noire awakened, Siegfried foretorld a future where Rik would be training Noire in how to use his powers, powers which Siegfried saw as way more versatile than his own. Balmung's power focused on mass annihilation first and foremost, but if he were to call Rik's powers anything, it's be like a bunch of Anti-Unit Noble Phantasms. The power of Demons, much like a DPU, would never be joked about. Rik had already told him that he would begin once Noire figured out how to activate her Devil Trigger, and in the meantime he'd be figuring out the training schedule he'd need for her... though he would have to consider Siegfried as well otherwise he'd hand him over to Ashbringer, and THAT would be something which the Appetite Demon would NEVER allow.

'Now, should Noire break through the next Bottleneck, I wonder how much her power will swell... likely much more than it is now, considering its true nature...'

Siegfried, upon reflecting on the second bottleneck, felt a foreboding feeling erupt inside him. Not from Noire's reaction, but the reaction of what lay sealed away still. He was no fool, what had been sealed back then... it got tied with his legend, a secret which he had taken to the grave, telling absolutely nobody about it. He didn't want this kind of secret to be known to the public, since this had been the request made of him by that time, and as a King who helped others Siegfried had done his duty well. Still, once Noire broke through that bottleneck, and he felt sure she would do so once Balmung was fully restored, then her true destiny would be known to her, he felt. No matter what, Noire would learn the truth, of how the moment she had fist picked Balmung up that day, that heer destiny had been irrevocably changed. For better or worse, whose to say.

Aside from that, Siegfried remained as calm as ever as he focused on his current tasks.


	16. Chapter 16 - Improvements

**Chapter 16 - Improvements **

And so, the trial continued, with Noire hacking away at every Demon which came across her sights. As she kept slaying Demons through the severing of limbs, decapitating heads, thrusting so fast that torsos were reduced to much, it seemed just like the last trial. That every time she slayed one Demon or a couple; more would take their place. Heck, those statue-like archer Demons called 'Enigmas' would appear on the walls to act like snipers, shooting at her with their energy arrows. They kept appearing in groups of over 40, constantly launching energy arrows at her with little regard for their Demon comrades, something Noire had learned was quite the norm for their kind: Demons devour, even each other. Thus, Noire had to chain attacks together, swinging her HF Blade like her life depended on it in order to kill her opponents quickly lest their weight overwhelms the Platform.

THAT could end the trial, and she'd already made her feelings clear about that.

A few times she had accidentally unleashed her Demonic Powers though, slowly but surely getting a grasp of how to call on it in times of need. She remembered the first time she had come into contact with such a power back in West Wind Valley, but back then it had basically been a poison to her system which could have killed her. Something which she had confirmed with Nico in the past… not something she liked to recall, but she had to in order to make some kind of comparison to what she felt when using Demonic Power now.

Unlike back then, Noire could EASILY compare it to feeling like being out cold in the night butt naked. The cold feeling, she got when using it felt like the complete opposite compared to the warmth Share Energy gave her whenever she used it, the complete contrast. Demonic Power felt cold, deadly, raw, primal and savage. As if it would rip and tear anything which came into contact with it. Yet, the more she fought with it, the more Noire began to realize that despite the feelings invoked by this energy… it wasn't actually Evil, as opposed to Share Energy not feeling particularly 'good'. Both of them were simply just energies, energies on opposite sides of the spectrum. There was no good or evil when using them, THAT only came from the intent behind them, the one who pulled the trigger, that sort of thing.

Of course, Noire didn't dare to try out her Devil Trigger state in this small space, since she wasn't sure if the surge of power which would accompany it would be too much for the Platform during the later stages of the Trial. She had gotten the feeling when she'd tapped her armoured boot against the Platform's surface, that it would be one fragile little thing. As such, it could break easily, not something Noire wanted to consider even if she could just use the full extent of her FAFNIR ARMOUR to fly. That would likely cause her to fail the trial though… and if she were frank, Noire HATED failure with a passion. She could only do everything, that's what she always believed in anyways.

Siegfried remained quiet during the whole spectacle though and if she wasn't so sure he had been fine through their link, she would have been worried about him. She wouldn't say HOW worried she would be though, not to anybody but herself at least. Still, at least with him being silent it gave her more time to focus on the battle taking place around her, a battle which had been a bit longer and more annoying since she couldn't do any dual wielding. Wielding a sword to slice through multiple opponents with single sword swings, kicking, punching, deflecting, evading and blocking, Noire felt almost like she had entered a vicious dance. A dance which held a reward at the end of the tunnel that is this Trial, her sword flowing through the air with both river-like flexibility as well as firestorm-like ferocity.

As a result, she began to feel something she could only describe as 'off'. It wasn't anything which could be described as bad per say, but it felt like she was slowly beginning to… tap into something. It wasn't something which she was familiar with, and it DEFINITELY didn't feel like something connected to Balmung. It felt… it felt like she was about to step into something, something related to the sword and, if she managed to step into it, she would be able to reap an untold amount of benefits to it. It wasn't something she could quite understand as of yet, but she didn't let it distract her at all during the constant battling she had found herself forced to undertake.

Before she knew it, about 46 minutes passed…

And finally, did the elevator reach the very top. She could tell because well… there had been a message next to an arrow drawn in what looked like blood which pointed to a specific part of the wall, one which the Elevator had touched and stopped moving afterwards. The message itself, Noire didn't need to read it since she had her suspicions already, but she did so anyways. It read that this would be the end of the ride upwards, that the Elevator had risen to the top.

Seeing this, caused the blackette to sigh in relief, falling onto her knees as she dropped her HF Blade to the side. The blade let out a clattering sound as it settled after a few seconds, the owner having begun panting like crazy. So much sweat rolled down her forehead that she felt like she might be sweating up a waterfall, yet right now she could hardly find it within herself to care about it right now. "W…Wow… now that… really felt like a long, drawn-out battle. It may have been after 45 minutes, but in reality, it feels like its been much longer…" she mused to nobody in particular as she leaned backwards, putting her arms behind her and using them for support. On her forearm, her gauntlet Raijin dispersed itself since its wielder no longer required its assistance, something she barely took notice of.

_…__Interesting, very interesting indeed… It appears that these short, intense battles are actually serving you well. Long battles may sound like a good idea to improve training, but short battles are not to be underestimated either. From what I've seen, I can detect huge levels of increased skill in swordplay from your blade. One-handed sword skill has grown significantly, although at the expense of very little in two-handed and dual-wielding swordplay…_

"I can't help that, Siegfried." Noire replied when she finally heard her Heroic Spirit speak. The blackette could feel the Trial readying itself for the next information surge, but she still felt like she could afford to speak with Siegfried for a bit. "For one, my Rapier wouldn't be very effective against these Demons since its made from very weak materials. It'd snap like a twig, and as for my other swords, I can sense they aren't ready yet. I have no idea about Chaoseater since I don't know how to Devil Trigger yet, so that option's out, and lastly I had to split my focus between my HF Blade and Raijin for all the attacks coming my way." She explained, her panting not getting better in the slightest. "Regarding that Devil Trigger state… Do you think that…?"

_…__He says that its best if you figure it out yourself, that way you can grow accustomed to it better. Only then will he start training your Demonic Powers…_

'Ugh, that annoying…!' Noire growled in her mind when she heard that as her fatigue made it to where she couldn't physically respond to him. So far, this Appetite Demon seems to have the personality of an asshole, she felt. She wouldn't be technically wrong either, since he DID kick her out of her own dreamworld earlier like she was an uninvited guest. Still, before she could lose herself in her anger, Noire forcibly calmed herself with an audible exhale. "I see… well, at least I hope whatever this Trial has will be worth the trouble I went through." She remarked, slowly regaining her breathing as she stood up, picking up her HF Blade, sending it back into her Inventory.

Just in time too, cause a second later the blackette found herself already feeling the effects of being transported back. She could feel the information surge she had expected also happening at the same time, so she closed her eyes and allowed everything to happen as it was meant to. As she vanished from the top of the Elevator, Noire felt the following words enter her mind directly, just like the first time:

SECRET MISSION: COMPLETE

INITIALIZING RETURN

REWARDS:

\- BLUEHEART GRASS

* * *

Blinking several times after her eyes opened, Noire found herself back in the stomach of the Leviathan, something which made her shudder with disgust and temporarily forget what had happened to her. "Oh yeah, I fought those Demons so much that I forgot about THIS bit…" she mumbled under her breath, distaste laced within her words like vile poison. Good thing her incomplete FAFNIR ARMOUR hadn't been damaged all that much from all the constant fighting she had done, otherwise… well, she didn't want to think too much about that. She took a step backwards and stepped out of the hole, but considering how she didn't want to step onto that fleshy ground longer than necessary, she bent her legs once outside the hole, and flipped up into the air. She back flipped at the apex of her jump, and then landed on top of the holed ship's Deck.

'Whew… there, that's enough for me for now…' Noire thought as she sat down on the Lotus Position. Considering where she was, Noire didn't let her inner turmoil of wanting to get out as quickly as possible impede her judgement. The risks involved had been too great for behaviour such as that. By no means did this mean that Noire had lost her edge, oh the amount of slain Demons left in her wake could attest to that, but in her current condition her powers were too unbalanced to act rashly, not to mention that she hardly knew a thing about how to get out of here.

Thus, the only things she could do now were to look up this new item she had gotten from the Trial… as well as a little something else.

'Say, Siegfried. Can it be possible for me to go into my Dreamworld and contact Rik? So, I can ask him about the Devil Trigger…?' she questioned while looking through her Inventory when it opened. Now, Noire could just experiment with her powers until she got the ability to do so herself anytime she wished, but that could take up too much time. She wanted to do this as quick as she could just as much as she valued her own pride. Pride which had been somewhat tampered by Siegfried's teachings whilst being insulted by her defeat to Vicious.

_… __I will see. If its only for advice about how to proceed, I think it could be possible. Demons believe strongly in growing stronger as individuals, they look down on relying on others to get stronger. As such, do not think this will guarantee you anything. In the meantime, perhaps you can see this 'Blueheart Grass' of yours, see what it looks like…_

'Sure… though this sounds like some sort of herb if you ask me.' Noire replied before shutting down the link herself. She then went and found the unknown item which had been transferred into her inventory, before pulling it right out into her awaiting hand. The moment she did so… her eyes began to twinkle whilst her jaw dropped into a circular formation. "Oh, my goddess…" she whispered, barely able to believe what she was seeing. In her hands, lay a bouquet of grass… but hardly ANY kind of grass Noire had ever seen in all her centuries of living.

The Bouquet had been filled with a big mass of grass which had deep green blades that emanate a faint blue light. The glow itself practically illuminated the surroundings of the Leviathan's stomach, drawing in Noire's awed gaze like a moth to a flame. Normally, if she were to get something like this instead of a weapon or something which could help her fight her enemies, Noire would have gone into a rage, summoned Raijin and reduced the grass to nothingness… However, this time she didn't. Nope, she had been to mesmerised by how freaking BEAUTIFUL the grass looked. A slice of beauty in a hellish landscape like this… Noire didn't like then thought of destroying something so amazingly pure. Not only did it have a strong beauty, but it also felt quite cool to the touch, a deep contrast to the infernal heat of this place. None of the heat managed to get close to this grass though, which only awed her even more.

"Wooooooowwwwwww… so preeetttyyyyy…." The blackette mumbled in amazement, staring down at the bouquet in her hands. But, even as her amazement rose to such levels, a part of her still wondered what the heck this even was in the first place. Whilst she wasn't very skilled in herbology, more on the art of combat, politics and leading a Nation, Noire got the impression that this plant wouldn't ever be found on Gamindustri… save for this very Tower. "Though its so pretty… I don't have a single clue as to what this really is… or why people would even want it in the first place. Sure it looks nice and all, but…"

_…__Noire…_

'Siegfried…?' Upon hearing her Heroic Spirit's voice, Noire quickly grew concerned, her previous emotions vanishing into the winds. The former King had spoken her name with so much caution, wariness and general hesitation just now, which pretty much screamed at her something had deeply unsettled the man. Something that her instincts felt was connected to this grass.

_…__I went to Rik and had been in conversation about advice on your Devil Trigger. It wasn't going anywhere for the longest time, until he caught the scent of this natural herb. You have no idea how pale he went, and when I asked him what was wrong, he told me EXACTLY what this Blueheart Grass is. He and his previous host Wolvrik discovered it whilst on a mission to kill some powerful figures called supreme warriors, all four having fallen by his blade. Across the Devidimension, the Blueheart Grass is extremely rare and is thus considered a priceless item that would rarely even be seen. A single patch of Blueheart grass is worth, if I were to gauge it by your nation's currency, tens of thousands of Credits, and that's for a single piece never mind the bouquet you have right here. Blueheart grass grows in places with a high density of natural energies like valleys, canyons, forests etc, but its most important aspect is what it was used for…_

'And what use is that?' Noire questioned whilst trying to suppress the shock running through her system. This herb, she may not understand the concepts of herbology but it would be enough for her to grasp the sheer scale of the amount of it in her possession currently. From a business standpoint, she bet she could make loads of money for it… if she were a common city girl, but she wasn't. As a Leader of a Nation, Noire had access to the national budget, and even that wasn't meant to be used without caution. Therefore, she felt… quite nervous in holding this bouquet now, since it represented a temptation that felt MASSIVE on her senses.

_…__The Blueheart Grass was used back in the day by the DPUs to make a little something called 'Bloodrupture Poison', a very deadly toxin which they used to torture mass populations, interrogate enemies, or outright assassinate them. The sheer agony which this poison induces would be enough to render even a CPU's mind rattled with insanity and madness. Worse than even Berserker Type Heroic Spirits. Lemme give you a hint of what it does to someone: Bloodrupture poison, when dissolved into wine or water, has no odour and no taste. Even back then, no way of detecting it had been discovered. Once its ingested, it will seep into the victim's blood, preventing any energies from being generated, causing the victim to have less than 10% of his strength left, with there being absolutely no cure. Only by constantly recycling one's remnants of energy for months would the poison be eventually expelled from them…_

By the time that Siegfried had finished explaining the poison to Noire, the blackette had turned white with dread and nervousness, especially at the thought of such poison entering her system before a major fight began. This poison sounded like a freaking death sentence for someone like her, let alone a common soldier. Not being able to use their full power in a battle, in this world that would pretty much be a death sentence right then and there, considering the state Gamindustri was in. Yet, part of her couldn't help but imagine the uses for such a poison, as much as she loathed herself for thinking that way. She could imagine the levels of weakening her enemies would go through, like Arfoire, Mundus, Ganache etc could experience with this poison running through their systems. "Th-Then why the heck does this place…?!" Noire began to say, before she trailed off and bit her lower lip.

Honestly, she could imagine why this would be the case, especially if the DPU who used this Tower was close to the Chaos God Slaanesh in terms of personality. Slaanesh is known as the Lord of Pleasure, the Dark God dedicated to the pursuit of earthly gratification and the overthrow of all decent behaviour, as well as hedonism and pleasure for its own sake. He is the God of Obsession, the Master of Excess in All Things, from gluttony to lust to megalomania. Wherever mortals are ruled by their own unquenchable desires, the Dark Prince of Chaos is there in the shadows, whispering, tempting, and feasting on a banquet of souls. But this is true in all things, not just carnal pleasures. Those who desire to indulge in the finest culinary delights, the most beautiful artworks, even the most sensual clothing, could all be amongst Slaanesh's disciples. Just as importantly, Slaanesh is also the god of perfection. The singer striving for the most beautiful song or the warrior who seeks the perfect fighting techniques, both could be devotees of Slaanesh.

Pretty much her arch nemesis in a nutshell. Business before pleasure never felt so right.

She could imagine MANY ways in which someone like that would be able to use such a poison.

_…__In addition, however, there is another use for it…_

"Oh?" Noire blinked again, this time in both surprise and anticipation. If there was a different use for it other than this dreadful poison, then she'd be all for it. Any other leader would likely have seen the benefits of such a thing, assassins all the more so, but Noire would not call herself someone without morals. She didn't like the thought of using such a poison herself nor condemning someone to a fate like that.

_…__This is something I gleaned in exchange for no advice on your Devil Trigger front, but the moment you take off the grass's leaves a dark green liquid will ooze out. Drink it, eat the blades or both will give you a specific benefit… but, let it be known you will HAVE to circulate the whole of the Abnormal Blood inside of you. ALL of it, no cutting corners. I'll explain afterwards, though there's the chance of you perishing from this action…_

Hearing those ominous words, Noire resisted the urge to gulp to express the nervousness circulating within her. After all, doing ANYTHING which risked her life had much more weight to it than it would a normal person. If she perished, then an entire Nation wouldn't have a Goddess's protection. It would be even worse if they didn't even realize their Goddess had died, no matter if there were different Goddesses out there as well! As such, when Noire gazed at the Blueheart grass whilst Siegfried explained to her how to eat it properly, the blackette managed to swallow her hesitations to finally act.

Whilst she remained in the lotus Position, Noire allowed her FAFNIR ARMOUR ability to fully manifest, giving her all of the traits, she would normally possess. Just like she had felt before, the blood of the Abnormal flowed through her veins, pouring out from her very heart. However, just like all those times, Noire had felt like this wasn't truly her blood, that her and the Abnormal were two distinct entities in one body. That alone didn't sound like a very ideal situation, so hopefully this would begin to change that.

As she circulated the Abnormal blood, Noire began to act in which Siegfried had instructed her to. Taking some of the Blueheart Grass, she quickly put it in her mouth, chewed it so she could get to the liquid and swallowed her mouth's contents all at once. Immediately afterwards did she feel a very cool sensation envelop her stomach… a sensation which caused the blood circulating through her to react.

BOOM!

At once an eruption of pain exploded inside of her, burning away at every fibre of Noire's body. Her organs felt like they would be melting under this immense pain whilst Noire herself gritted her teeth, tightly closing her mouth to prevent the screams she so desperately wanted to let out from being heard. Her entire body gradually started turning pinker and pinker, even taking on a few red tints here and there whilst steam rolled off her shoulders and back. Not just her body though, but also her very SOUL began to scream in pure, intense agony as if were instantly engulfed by a spiralling inferno without warning. With her eyes closed, Noire didn't notice the circle of steam which surrounded her seated form, either.

Yet, none of this mattered to her, not when she could feel a change starting to occur within her body… or rather, to be more precise the abnormal blood which currently flowed through her veins. In several places of her body, the blood began to react to the Blueheart Grass, and thus began to merge with the inner structure of Noire's body. It merged with her very own blood, infusing with each cell down to their foundations. All the while, the blackette felt like her body had become some kind of furious, hellish battleground, with various elements in her body fighting for control.

_…__Quick, Noire! More Blueheart Grass! Now!..._

Despite the pain however, Noire still managed to process Siegfried's words as she hurriedly stuffed more grass into her mouth. It honestly reminded her of ice cream with how cool it felt running down her scorching throat, but she didn't pay that much heed. Instead, she quickly devoured the rest of the grass, the wrappings vanishing into Particles as she began to focus, relying on the instructions Siegfried had given her. With that knowledge, she began to agitate the blood merging with her, continuing the process even when it felt like she was being pushed into the most vicious flames around.

Across her body, pain violently rampaged through it like an army of soldiers furiously stomping through the battlefield. The pain became so great with no signs of slowing down, that Noire became unable to hold it in anymore as she began howling with immense agony. Her scream echoed throughout the entire stomach, causing everything to rattle and tremble like they had been hit by a violent earthquake. All the while, she gasped when a 'BA-BUMP' sound reached her ears. More sounds similar to it echoed through the confines of her body, reaching its very tips in all directions…. Which, according to Siegfried (she swore to herself she would demand answers from him if she survived this) was the sign that the process would be nearing its final stages.

Soon turned out to be the truth, since the blood at this point, had begun finalizing its merger with her own.

During this state, changes began to happen to her body, changes which started off with the black suit and silver armour vanishing off into the winds leaving her form bare. At this point, Noire couldn't retain the Lotus sitting position anymore as she fell onto all fours, gripping the floorboards of the ship's main deck as she hung her head low, gasping and crying out despite nobody hearing her. Not only that, but her hair fluttered behind her whilst her draconian facial features remained, her skin tone also beginning to change when the following changes began to apply themselves. For one, the tops of Noire's forearms, biceps and hands began to split, allowing black draconian scales to slide out and cover them, spreading out till the entire upper portion of her limbs got covered. The same thing happened to her legs, though it happened over the outer parts of them and the upper parts of her feet. She gasped and groaned when she felt several points on her body began to hurt much more than others, like something was trying to break out of them by sheer force. More black scales slid out of her sides, over her crotch, across her torso, beneath her armpits, over her shoulders, sides of the neck, her jaw, pretty much outlining her entire physical form. As for her skin, it turned into this dark, pale grey complexion, a complete contrast to the tanned one she had whenever activating her FAFNIR ARMOUR.

Not like this would be the end, nope not by a long shot. Not if the blood she was being slowly infused with thanks to the Blueheart Grass was any indication, as even more… drastic changes began to apply themselves. For one, out of her head, several twisted-looking, black structures suddenly popped out, each as long as a human hand. Each of them curved upwards then inwards towards each other, whilst the crimson glow of her draconian eyes became all the more profound. From her upper back, two sets of bones erupted forth with the sounds of bones tearing resonating through the Leviathan's stomach, quickly spreading out up to a wingspan of 10 feet. Strands of flesh slithered across them to form muscles, fibres etc. Another bone, this one made from various segments connected like a chain, erupted out from the base of her spine, falling to the ground with similar entrails covering its form to perfectly form the perfect, ideal shape. From her shoulders, forearms, and kneecaps several protrusions began to manifest, ripping through the scales in order to take on their intended forms.

* * *

Within her dreamworld, Siegfried watched the transformation occur, ignoring the screams Noire released, with rapt attention. His monitoring did not miss a single thing which happened to her body, not a single thing, and so far, it seemed like everything would be going to plan.

With what he had convinced Noire to do, it would be very much likely that her path would be set towards the intentions of destiny. Her soul had truly been marked... both by the Devil and by the dragon, if this sight happening before him could be believed. Heck, the transformation already began affecting her dreamworld, causing earthquakes, pillars of fire, ice, wind etc to erupt everywhere. Storms, typhoons, droughts, meteor showers, all kinds of natural disasters formed across the Dreamworld, with the powers of both him and Rik being what kept its endurance high.

Fortunately, the transformation had already initiated its final stages, it wouldn't be long now…

'Don't worry Noire, keep holding on for a little longer. We're almost done, and by then I'll be able to tell you… just what kind of power you have unlocked…' the man thought to himself, mixed feelings surging through his being.

* * *

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, it happened.

A shrill gasp tore itself from her lips as Noire fell onto the ground face first, panting heavily as evident by the visual sight of her rising and falling torso. A heavy THUD sound echoed through the surroundings at this, though nobody would be around to hear it save for her. The transformation process finally finished itself, the pain lessening until it had been completely erased from her system. For a moment, the blackette just stayed there on the ground, breathing heavily as she pretty much embraced the main deck. Appreciation filled her being at how cool it felt to the touch, somethings he sorely lacked a few minutes ago.

'G-Geez… gimme a break… now THAT isn't something I ever want to go through again. It felt similar to when I first awoke the Devil Trigger back then…' she thought to herself whilst recovering from this experience. Although, progress to her normal state had been unfortunately as slow as a walking turtle. So, Noire just lay there, letting her body rest for a moment as she regained her breathing and composure.

_…__As far as I can tell, you will not have to, as it appears you have succeeded Noire…_

'Well, I better have! I better not have gone through all that crap form nothing, you hear?! Now, start talking! What exactly was it that you made me do?! I felt like I was about to be boiled alive from that stunt!'

_…__From what I was told by Rik, it appears that the Blueheart Grass was used in a second manner, one which has to do with the Abnormal Blood. I… perhaps you have already suspected this, but the blood which is usually stored inside Balmung is that of a Dragon-type abnormal, the Dragon known as Fafnir. That blood, even after all these years, still retained the primal essence of the dragon itself which made its potency all the greater. Normally when you use the FAFNIR ARMOUR, your body is temporarily merging with it and then defusing back into separate parts, as draconian blood isn't something one can normally withstand. I myself had to replace my heart for my body to be able to sustain the dragon blood, but I never quite gained its full prowess as a result, merely some physical alterations and improvements…_

Yeah, Noire could understand that. Truth be told, Siegfried had hit the nail on the head when he mentioned about her suspicions about the FAFNIR ARMOUR, especially since it infused her with the Blood of an Abnormal to transform her into that kind of state. She'd had it ever since she first discovered the ability, though she still got surprised when he had mentioned the blood being stored inside the Noble Phantasm. The first time she'd stumbled on that ability had been completely by accident, and she'd spent the majority of that time having a full-blown panic attack at how she'd changed until she got back to normal. 'Okay… continue.'

_…__As such, your ability would be considered not even a fraction of the blood's full prowess, a copy of the true ability. Its pathetic to even consider it a similar power to what you have now, since you now possess the complete bloodline of Fafnir the Dragon, turning yourself into something which Rik calls a 'Dragonblood warrior', someone who is infused with the blood of a powerful god-tier Abnormal._ _That was what the Blueheart Grass was for, I carried properties which forced the blood to completely separate itself from Balmung and permanently fuse with your body, merging with every blood cell you possess, which transformed your body into its current state. Try sitting up and you will see…_

Noire did so after she felt her strength return to her, shifting herself into a sitting position before she stood on her own two feet, careful not to do it too much lest she get dizzy and fall over. Once she found herself back on her feet though, did Noire look herself over to finally see what had befallen her body. As such, she came face to face with… something she could hardly recognize.

From her head, protruded 4 twisted black dragon horns, two coming from the sides of her head and two more from the back. The first two curved upwards and then inwards towards one another, whilst the second pair curved forwards, pointing in the direction she faced. Her eyes had turned from blood red into a deep grey, with draconian slits for pupils whilst her jaw, forehead and sides of her neck got covered in abyssal black dragon scales. The rest of her face and neck uncovered by them had taken this pale, dark grey tint as opposed too her original fair skin tone. Her hair remained unchanged though, resuming its wild and untamed nature. Her body, mostly the tops of her arms, top of her biceps, shoulders, entire torso, sides, hips, crotch, outer thighs and outer knees also got covered in these scales, the rest becoming dark grey in skin tone. Her hands got completely overtaken, transforming into a set of 5-digit draconian claws with sharpened nails, a similar situation happening with her feet. Glancing behind her when she noticed some foreign weights, Noire noticed her back having a large pair of dragon wings, curled inwards for no, but when she extended them, they nearly rivalled the length of a certain redhead's first DPU Form's in wingspan. Even the base of her spine had a new addition in the form of a long black tail which got made from many segments, segments which narrowed further down the tail till it made a sharpened tip. Her shoulders, kneecaps and elbows each had dark grey stubby spikes protruding out of them.

'Holy…'

_…__Indeed. This would be the power of the Dragonblood which has now nested inside of you instead of Balmung. Its now completely merged with you, and when you shift into your human form again it'll roost inside of your very heart this time. A Heart which now is that of a dragon… You can imagine the levels of power something like that would have…_

'Yeah, yeah I can. I think I'll call this my 'Dragonblood form' then, since its obvious this power surpasses the FAFNIR ARMOUR by far. Wait… do you think in this form; I'd be able to wield THAT sword?' Noire wondered, and with some prodding on Siegfried's end, the young dragonified Goddess quickly summoned Dragon Fault out of her Inventory. The massive blade stabbed into the ground before her, and as Noire walked towards it she gulped, slowly grasping the blade's hilt. Nervousness warred inside her gut, making her heart beat a bit harder than normal until she forcibly stilled herself. 'You can do this Noire, you can do this…' she chanted in her head like a mantra.

Once she had convinced herself of this, Noire took a deep breath, nearly shocking herself with how loud it had been, before she tightened her grip on the hilt and… lifted it up without any effort. It felt practically lighter than a feather in her hand, similar to Balmung and Ashbringer, something which nearly caused her to go bug eyed as she held the blade horizontally in one hand. "Wow! I actually did it!" she shouted happily throughout the Leviathan's stomach, causing sound waves to reverberate throughout thanks to the improved vocals. "Yaaaaaaay! Ufufufufufufu!" Seeing that she had succeeded where she had failed before (much to her pride's dismay), caused Noire to start jumping up and down like an excited schoolgirl.

_…__It seems that you have become able to wield this sword in your Dragonblood Form, though this only means that you may only use it in this form, as well. Simply put, the physical buff this form grants is a major one, and aside from that it seems fairly easy to maintain like the FAFNIR ARMOUR. No energy is wasted, and it seems to be able to take a lot more of a beating before it would be forcibly dispelled, and you would be forced to battle without it... for a time. Perhaps this form could serve as a safe alternative for until you properly learn to harness your Devil Trigger..._

The presence of Siegfried, something which she'd honestly forgotten over, forced Noire back to her senses, as well as stopping all her motion too. Whilst mentally forcing Siegfried to swear an oath not to repeat that to anyone lest he learn what being a eunuch was like, she also agreed with him there. Even with the benefits her Dragonblood Form would likely bring, it likely wouldn't even BEGIN to compare to her Devil Triger state. Seeing that she had these powers, it made her draw a comparison between the two which made her conclude that, as much as she didn't like to believe it, the demon in her held the upper hand in power levels. The dragon lowered its head to the demon in her, as it were.

'Yeah, I can feel it within me… its power feels much greater than that of this form. I think Ill keep to this one for now though.' Noire decided, and when Siegfried made to comment, he wisely chose not to when he recalled her embarrassment and fury before. Looking around the area, the blackette frowned as her draconian eyes scoured the vicinity, looking for a way to escape this place. 'All this is well and good, but nothing will change unless we figure out a way to get outta here… You got any ideas?' if this were normal circumstances Noire would have tried to do this on her own, since Noire always proclaimed to be the best at everything she did. Nobody would say her pride would be undamaged whenever she got forced to ask for help, but… since the person she asked was her mentor, it helped alleviate things somewhat.

_…__Normally I would suggest you burst through the Leviathan's body the way you are now, as it is certainly within your power. Your flight abilities being restored makes it so you can survive the outside, plus possibly defeat the Leviathan once and for all. However, there has been something which has caught my attention for a while now. Deeper inside this Leviathan, I can sense several presences, presences whom I fell will be problematic should we leave them to their devices. I cannot get a read on their position, but what I am able to ascertain is that they are no ordinary humans… yet worse than any kind of Demon we have encountered…_

'Huh… I see. Well, we'll pay them a visit sure, but none of this will matter if we don't find a way out of here. You know this well, Siegfried.'

_…__Indeed, however I have noticed something of noteworthy importance. There are these blobs scattered throughout this area, and from them I can feel trails of Demonic Power surging forth, connecting to what I believe to be some Tusks over where a certain walkway is. My theory is thus: destroy those blobs, and you destroy the Tusks which will open a new path for us. Take a look, you'll see what I mean…_

Noire did so, casting her gaze about and quickly locating a passageway which he had explained to her about. Like he said, there were a series of tusk-like appendages blocking the way, not to mention when she looked around again she could see what the 'blobs' he had informed her about were, which upon drawing from her gaming knowledge quickly helped her draw a similar conclusion in her mind. 'I see… well, I could use some practice with Dragon Fault now anyways, since it's obvious I will need to train in how to handle this thing.' She thought, getting an agreeing nod from the former king before she cut the link. 'Alright then, time to roll up the metaphorical sleeves and get to work!'

* * *

Moments later, the last blob exploded into a gory mess when Noire sliced through it with Dragon Fault, which triggered the last of the Tusks to move out of the entrance way. Noire, upon hearing this, quickly grew a bright smile as happiness began to dance through her eyes. 'Yes! It worked! Now then, lets get out of this place already, I don't want to be anywhere near this place anymore!' she thought in a moment of victorious glee, twisting around whilst floating in the air, her constantly flapping Wings allowing her to shoot through the air towards the entrance. Whilst she flew, Noire put the massive sword onto her back, which caused her form to jolt a bit from the sudden weight put on her, but otherwise she remained afloat.

With those blobs gone, Noire reflected on what her initial opinions of the massive Dragon Fault had been, and boy did she have a few things to say. For starters, whilst it may feel as light as Balmung and Ashbringer, when in combat the sheer blunt force the blade exuded whilst slashing through the air like a cleaver going through a mountain surpassed both of them. Dragon Fault seemed to surpass those two in physical prowess by far, it almost felt tyrannical whenever she swung it, as whatever fleshy substance came into contact with the blade met an ugly, grizzly end. It felt like before this sword, nothing would be safe, not men, not weapons, not armour.

Swinging it around also exposed a fatal weakness however, and that was that Noire couldn't swing it at the same speeds she could Ashbringer or Balmung. This made sense to her, since the sword weighed way more than either of them combined and as thus, even with the physical buffs from the Dragonblood Form it could only help her so much. She would need a LOT of practice so she could wield this thing properly, maybe perhaps figure out a new style for it since apparently her Sword Mistress Style which she personally developed wasn't very compatible with it. Siegfried had once told her how Heavy Swords the complete opposite to the swords she had been used to, since their weight made them both difficult to wield, but when properly mastered could potentially wipe out entire armies just like an Anti-Army Noble Phantasm. Still, he did agree with her on finding a sword stance or maybe even develop her own (though that would take a lot of time) to better wield it, as for the time being it would be her only weapon aside from her HF Blade, the weakest sword she had in comparison, until Balmung and Ashbringer recovered.

Aside from it, so far Noire felt VERY pleased with the Dragonblood form she possessed. Well, aside from it being super revealing (something that she didn't even notice until moments later), the sheer power boost it gave to her strength, speed, stamina, defence, agility, endurance etc felt astronomically grand. It helped that the power of flight had been drastically improved too, with the blood giving her the fight and flight instincts of a Dragon, not to mention how easy she felt it to be to maintain. Sadly though, it had the downside of her being unable to use her other abilities in this form, like HDD or her Demonic Powers. It seemed like this would be a gag to her, something her conscience told her anyways. She wasn't sure how much this would help her compared to someone like Vicious, Nico or Mundus, but she could surely say that nobody below them would be able to beat her so easily. Still, maybe she should thank Vicious when they met instead of trying to kill him… maybe do both, since he indirectly helped her get stronger. Hehehehe…

Shaking her head, Noire pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind as she landed before the entranceway which only had slight stubs around its frame now, to show her how the Tusks had sunk in thanks to destroying the blobs. Up ahead, she couldn't see much, if anything she couldn't see anything at all, due to there being no signs of light which worried her. Still, she had to continue forwards, from what Siegfried told her this would be the only way out of the Leviathan's stomach, so… whelp, time to once again swallow her pride, the blackette felt. 'Alright, now then… Since I'm getting out of here, I should be prepared for whatever it is I'll face in the imminent future. I may have escaped the stomach, but Demons are never that easy to deal with.' Noire thought to herself as she started walking into the pathway.

* * *

**Chapter end**

**Whelp, here we go, another chapter done. **

**Now then, lets explain a few things. The Dragonblood Form is an idea I came up with, but it was inspired by Coiling Dragon, a Wuxia. I'm using quite a few wuxia elements because in terms of scaling, it feels like wuxias have bigger scaling systems than what Japanese animations possess, so be aware that they'll be coming out more often. The Dragonblood form is also NOT something she would only be using until she gains the ability to freely Devil Trigger, which might not be for a while yet, whilst it also brings forth some extra possibilities for Noire's power growth. To any who assume Noire to be getting stronger than the main character Nico, do not worry. Noire isn't the only character to get this potential power, as the other CPUs will too. Its to better balance things out between the heroes and the villains, yeah since the Villains will be JUST as deadly if not more so than the heroes are right now. Not to mention how Gamindustri is approaching a state of mass war on all fronts, just look at Leanbox for example, so these characters have to be overpowered badasses in order to survive. The Dragonblood Form is also the only way for Noire to utilize the Dragon Fault Heavy Sword, which came from the wuxia Against the Gods. Like all her weapons, I have plans for it, but for now its something which specializes in pure destructive force whilst Ashbringer is a light element sword, Balmung is an energy sword, Chaoseater is something else entirely whilst the HF blade will likely need something soon so it can stay relevant. **

**Now, since I haven't done one in a while, lets try witnessing a certain Special Event, the first one ever in this side story, yay! :)**

* * *

**Special Event - Noire going out with STYLE!**

Up atop the Temen-Ni-Gru…

**(Play OST:** **Devil May Cry 3 Soundtrack - M-8 Start [Temen-Ni-Gru Dive])**

Consciousness returned to Noire slowly as her hand slowly shifted on the ground, although this could be debated considering what will eventually happen. With the misty surroundings settling in whilst she had slumbered, the blackette's vision didn't look so hot...

Not like she cared right now, if anything she didn't think on anything.

After she got to her feet in a manner similar to a mindless drone, Noire stumbled across to where she thought would be the way down the Tower again, grasping her HF Blade and taking it out the ground all the while. Though, in reality she merely went towards one of its edges instead.

Her mind in the state that it was, Noire treated it as if it were Balmung, putting the HF Blade onto her back before some red energy she didn't know anything or cared about tethered it to her back. All the while, she stumbled till she reached the edge of the massive Tower, right next to one of the tall angelic statues.

At that point, some semblance of thought returned to the blackette… though deep down a small, primitive part of her soon wished she didn't.

Memories flashed through her mind, memories of the fight between her and that grey haired man though she couldn't recall his name. Memories flashed of what aa silver haired, red eyed woman said to her about there being people who didn't deserve redemption or something. So many memories went through her mind at that one moment that she couldn't make sense of them all, however... one feeling surged through her in response to all of them: Frustration.

It built upon itself like a self-constructing tower within her being whilst she looked down at the city below, again unable to recall its exact name only knowing it was important to her.

Eventually...

The frustration acted like a bottle shattering and erupted within her, causing the black-haired Goddess to scowl as her eyes gleamed a vicious red light, her right arm flying out to smash itself into the base of the statue beside her.

CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!

Cracking sounds happened afterwards, causing her to blink momentarily in delirious confusion. Slowly raising her head, Noire looked up to the statue in silence. her delirious mind wondering if it had picked up what it thought it did. Not a moment too soon, the entire statue erupted, exploding into dust right down to its base.

Slowly with a hint of surprise on her face, Noire brought her hand back, looking down at it once it had been raised to her eye level. All the while as she examined it she saw several strands of crimson energy leaping forth from her skin, swirling around it like a spiral. She gradually unclenched and clenched the hand several times, before lowering it to gaze down at the city below... with a large grin gradually forming over her lips as her eyes gleamed with a sinister, devilish light. Around her, a similar crimson aura began to manifest, a look of euphoria mixing with the grin she sported while sensing some... stress relief, down below.

'Hehehehe… I think I recall someone saying this, but... Looks like its time to hit the JACKPOT!'

With those thoughts in mind, Noire eagerly grinned like the devil as she back flipped into the air, having plucked her two Handguns out from the holsters beneath her skirt, twirling them around her fingers by their trigger guards. Gripping them firmly, she then decided to swan dive downwards, letting her hair and dress flutter wildly behind her with trails of wind being released in her wake.

Down below, her eyes caught sight of a flock of blood Gargoyles rapidly ascending upwards, screeching their signature unholy shrieks. However, unlike before when she treated them with either annoyance or indifference, a bloodthirsty smile formed on her lips as she flipped forwards and began shooting away at them. She also dodged by sidestepping left and right whenever her prey got too close to her, filling her surroundings with the sounds of gunfire.

It... felt... FANTASTIC! Like it had begun scratching an itch she had never even considered she had! It felt wonderful, amazing even! She wanted more of it! More, more, MORE!

"Whooo-hohohohohohooooo!"

As she rapidly fired her Guns all around her at the wildly flailing Demons which tried to find an opening through her defences, Noire jumped into a downward spiral to fire downwards at an approaching group of Blood Gargoyles.

Eventually, one decided to try and exploit a tiny opening by charging up front, but the grin never left Noire's face. Even as she flipped over the creature and used several of its brethren as stepping stones for her rapid descent down the Tower. She ended up kicking one straight into the face in the form of an aerial twisting slit kick, sending it straight into the Tower wall... before an entire horde of Blood Gargoyles descended upon her. They covered Noire's form till they formed a massive ball consisting of bloody wings, sharp claws, glowing yellow eyes and frantic motions...

A ball which soon erupted with the sounds of dying Blood Gargoyle screams when Noire, who howled with laughter, constantly spun about like an absolute loon. She had one Handgun, Luce, in one hand to shoot at her opponents whilst her other hand carried her HF Blade, keeping her enemies from getting close to her with how rapidly she spun... whilst bisecting them along the way.

Bisecting or being pumped with demonic bullets... not good ways to go either way.

Eventually, Noire began running down the Tower again, this time hurling her HF Blade downwards like a wheel... which ended up impaling three Blood Gargoyles as they intersected with each other's flight path. Not wasting time, Noire raised Luce, aiming it towards the weapon's hilt and letting loose a single shot... which resulted in it hitting the hilt's bottom and sending it right through al three Demonic creatures, along with the rest of the Blood Gargoyles. As a result, the entire thing practically caught fire as it fell, like a meteor entering the planet's atmosphere.

It wasn't the only one though, as Noire rapidly caught up to her sword with her hand extended, having holstered her Handgun to focus on her task. Quickly, her hand caught fire in the same manner as her sword, making for 'quite' the visual spectacle of badassery that elected some mad howls from her until she grasped onto the blade's hilt. With that done, Noire hooted as she jumped off the side of the Tower, rapidly flying through the air like a certain blue and red spandex wearing superhero with a crimson cape...

Only, she didn't see the Leviathan come around, drawn in by the commotion, and swallow her whole.


	17. Chapter 17 - Chaos and Spirit

**Chapter 17 - Chaos and Spirit**

'So then… care to guess where we are now…?' Noire questioned as she strolled down what looked to be an organic corridor. All around her she could see how she had wandered into this corridor which resembled a fleshy tube-like structure, what with how the corridor itself seemed to serve and sway a bit, with there being an enormous amount of heat in the air. Fortunately for Noire, she had a strong resistance to this heat thanks to her Dragonblood Form, in addition to an almighty immunity to fire. Another thing she liked about her new form, making her feel more and more like a complete badass.

Still in her said Form, the blackette looked around cautiously, keeping an eye out for any signs of trouble. Behind her, her wings occasionally uncurled then curled again, her tail swaying lazily yet cautiously from side to side. The sounds of her massive Heavy Sword Dragon Fault clashing against her Scales made for some... ironically comforting sounds. She didn't expect this to happen here of all places, as under normal circumstances it would have been annoying as heck. All the while, she casually hopped, skipped and jumped over the rest of the green acidic puddles, not wanting to test if her new form's feet could resist them completely.

Although, as she walked down there she couldn't help but make a gross expression whenever she had to jump over those puddles of acid. Stomach acid never was a good sign, but there was so much of it out here and not where it should be that she wondered about this Demon's Biology. This caused her to recall what she had read about the Leviathan in terms of the details she found in the books from the Divine Library. How this Demon, it originated in the sea known as Outer Space, and usually swam through it without any regards for anything around it. Apparently, according to the records she had found, this one had wandered through a gap in both space and time itself, ending up in the Temen-Ni-Gru's vicinity when its original founder had been around resulting in its being bound here. Saddening since it would be so far from is home, but it wasn't like Demons needed to necessarily eat like humans did. They did it mostly out of a hobby, with some Demons eating more than others.

To adapt to its food source, which were meteorites found within asteroid belts, hence why it made those areas its home, it developed strong stomach acid which could melt those meteorites faster than her when she goes on a paperwork frenzy. Made her glad that she didn't test out her Dragonblood Form's resistance to it yet, especially if she didn't want to waste her limited supplies. Thanks to everyone being unconscious due to the Spell hovering over the city, Noire wouldn't have been able to gather many supplies from the shops, and she would NOT stoop as low as stealing from hardworking citizens of her country. That was not only wrong in so many different ways, but it felt like something Avenir would do if they were pushed to a corner. Not something she wanted to think about, but given how she'd become so in-tune with the human nature... yeah.

_…__Judging from what I have seen… my information is limited here, but if I were to guess I would say we are within its intestines. The amount of acid on the floor supports my theory, as disgusting as that sounds…_

'Your right on the disgusting part… ugh, eww gross…' Noire responded, shuddering after dodging a particularly large drop of mucous which fell from the ceiling above. She realized she was using words used to describe building interiors when this could hardly be counted as a building but considering how she had little else to compare it to… well, she'd take what she could get. At least in this form she could either walk or fly (the latter feeling particularly appealing if not for the fact that the corridor remained quite narrow which made flight limited. Plus, her Wings may be a bit too large for the space she DID have). 'I just wish this place didn't have to be so icky… even if this place was the insides of a damn Demon.'

Seriously, she knew they were Demons, but why the heck did they have to be so gross both outwardly and inwardly?

_… __I do not believe that question warrants an answer, Noire. Plus, haven't you learned this already: that Demons give zero care for the complaints of the mortals…. Even a Goddess of your calibre…_

'I hate to admit that, but your right… makes me not like Demons all the more…'

For some reason, an image of a classic Demon, you know the humanoids with bat wings, horns, red skin etc, appeared in her mind. However, instead of just that, the image of the Demon having a black cap on with the words 'SWAG' in blood red lettering, all the while smoking several cigars whilst throwing two punches to show its knuckle busters shaped like 'thug' and life'.

…

…

…

… What was wrong with her head, lately? She hadn't been around Neptune for a while now, or on drugs ever…

Eventually, her confusion and frustration erupted within her mind, causing the blackette to start scratching her scalp whilst gnashing her teeth. 'Damnit Neptune! Even when I'm in a serious situation you annoy me with your infectiousness!' Noire screamed, in her head a chibi version of her ran around chasing an ethereal spirit of a certain purplette with a ghostly tail for a lower body. All the same, that ghostly chibi Neptune held up a sign which had the words 'TROLOLOLOLOLOLOLO!' on it.

A short while passed, before she managed to reach the end of the so called 'Intestines' of the Leviathan, where Noire noticed a 'wall' made entirely of webbed flesh barring her path. 'Huh… looks like I can deal with this quick enough…' the blackette thought as she stepped forth till she reached striking distance of the blocked entranceway. First off though, she had prodded it with her right hand for testing purposes. Aside from it feeling super slimy (like a Dogoo but she wouldn't talk about THOSE experiences, as embarrassing as they were), she also found the layer to be quite thin. Kind of like a spider's web but more cloak-like and less powerful. As her thoughts mentioned, easily dealt with through a single sword slash, with the perfect candidate waiting on her back to be used. A quick slash from Dragon's Fault pretty much caved a vertical hole for her to pass through (though she did note that strange statue she had been seeing throughout the Tower encased in so much flesh she almost didn't recognize it), though. 'Perfect! Now then, lets continue…!' she thought further, before stepping past it to see where she would end up next.

* * *

Afterwards, Noire found herself walking into… what looked to be another corridor at first glance, but then she noticed a strange structure similar to a pedestal with a large socket on top. Above it, was a sheet of what looked like glass, but to her senses it seemed more like some sort of energy barrier. 'Huh, now this is new. Haven't seen something like this yet… wonder if it'll be the only time, I'll ever see something like this…' Noire thought, before deciding on testing it out to see if she could glean anything from it. Barriers, according to one time she had asked MAGES. about them, seemed to have their own properties and functions, making disarming them a troubling job or those unskilled in this field... which had been why in armies in the past, such disarming experts were quite valued in Leanbox, a land which abhorred magic and prided on martial prowess.

Still, Noire did feel confident she would be able to survive this at least, unlike with those Stomach Acid puddles. Strolling over with her Tail wagging in repressed excitement, Noire raised her right hand, placing the limb on the glass. When she did so, the blackette closed her eyes and tried to focus her senses on the barrier, trying to see if she could scan it to see where the energy came from. Of course, she felt like the pedestal had something to do with it, but she just wanted to be sure.

BZZZZZZZT! BOOOOOOM!

The moment her senses touched it however, Noire almost gasped and recoiled when she felt her mind get slammed down by two things: a surge of Lightning which ripped through her hand and forearm like it was no big deal. The second: a MASSIVE amount of Demonic Power, similar to a sonic boom erupting inside her own head. Quickly, she retracted her hand, shaking it as if it had been burned even though it remained as good as it had always been, the damage having been internal instead of external. 'Argh! Geez, that stung! This Barrier's definitely generated by Demonic Power then…' she thought to herself, a vicious scowl on her lips as she gained half a mind to smash this barrier to bits with Dragon Fault. Didn't help that her arm had a slight numbness to it now, even if there wasn't as much damage as she had feared.

_… __That would not be the wise course of action, although I understand your frustration. It seems like this barrier is made from pure energy, making it unbreachable for the current you. Looks like its being generated by the Leviathan itself, too, I can tell by feeling out the energy's nature when you touched it. Aside from demonic in origin, it still had the same feeling of this beast. All is not lost however, as when you made contact with it, I vaguely sensed a line of energy leading away from it. From what I can tell, it looks to be connected to an energy source the Leviathan must use as some form of defence mechanism. From this, we can assume that those structures behind it, those organ-like sacks, are something quite valuable to the Demon for it to have this kind of defence mounted…_

Upon hearing the analysis from Siegfried, Noire shushed her inner frustration and began to calm her mind. Although, she found that a… well, a tad more difficult than she would have in her human form. It almost felt like there was a dragon in her, furiously roaring at the 'insult' she had received from the Barrier itself, which took some time to be pacified into a silent slumber once more… She didn't know how to feel about that. 'I see…' she replied, already forming ideas of her own in a moment of analysis. It made sense when she thought about it, a beast this large had to have an energy source aside from meteorites, considering the lack of them here in Gamindustri. As such, she felt like the Leviathan had either adapted to its new environment like an Abnormal would, or it got tampered with down to the genetic level. She wouldn't be surprised if that was the case, practically anything could happen with regards to Demons. 'Then, we should probably track this power source down so we can get rid of this barrier. Maybe then we can find out what it is that's hiding behind it that the Demon doesn't want us to get near…' she thought with a small smirk, eagerness shining behind her eyes whilst she felt a draconian roar of approval within the back of her mind.

Ignoring that for now, Noire turned on her draconian talons and began making her way down the corridor, intent on seeing if she could find out where this 'energy source' was located. All the while, she didn't notice how behind her, a silhouette of a large, four limbed humanoid dragon had begun to form out of black smoke, its beady crimson eyes facing forward just like hers were.

* * *

"Looks like she's getting the hang of drawing out the dragon…"

Siegfried muttered that to himself as he watched Noire moving, all the while recording within his mind how she was reacting to the Dragonblood Form with narrowed eyes. He made sure to analyse her movements to even the tiniest of degrees, careful to not miss any signs of abnormalities. It wasn't like the transformation was incomplete or flawed in any way, but the blood of the Dragon Fafnir wasn't some normal dragon blood either. That blood came from an Abnormal which caused an untold amount of damage before it had been slain, and even then, its very blood still carried its potent essence. The magnitude of its power… well, let's just say that it wouldn't lose out to Noire's rapidly approaching Devil Trigger.

"Still, if that lazy Demon would just swallow its immense pride and actually show her how to damn Devil Trigger already, she could start to train herself in the ways of both the Dragon and the Devil, at least that way she may stand more of a chance against Vicious the next time they meet…"

Yeah, Siegfried did NOT like the Appetite Demon Rik's methods one bit. Then again, if he had it his way, he would have exorcised the Appetite Demon out of Noire's body, then let only himself, the dragon and that strange Ashbringer be her sources of power. That would have been an ideal situation for her, if things carried on the way they did, even if the Appetite Demon's presence alone helped Noire gain some more... passive benefits, like better understanding the Demon Tongue or reading the books meant for demonic power users.

However, the difference between reality and fantasy had been known to the man. As someone he had heard in this era say whilst Noire remained oblivious: 'Oh Gravity, thou art a heartless bitch'. Just replace the meaning of gravity to this situation, and one got the frustration building inside the Heroic Spirit. Like it or not, both of them were bound to Noire's very soul at this point, one willingly and the other as a means to have a better host which could draw out its powers better. If he did, then her powers would have skyrocketed up into the upper echelons and she would be able to train quicker to fight her future opponents. Siegfried didn't just take Vicious into consideration however, he also considered Mundus, and any other figures of similar power. DPUs were beings of carnage and chaos, the strongest four having been either killed or sealed depending on which one is investigating. With Mundus freed, it wouldn't be surprising if the others followed suit, and in that case should Nico not be around for whatever reason, Noire would need some MAJOR power boosts to fulfil her goals of protecting Lastation.

However, because of its damn pride, Noire wasn't making NEARLY as quick progress as she should have. Her progress rate in comparison could be considered slower than a lazy ass turtle, and whilst Rik had STATED it was so Noire could develop on her own without help, a staple for the Demon species it seemed, Siegfried also saw hints of pride and arrogance within which took part in its actions. It annoyed the man immensely, even as he sat in the clearing watching Noire's progress through his mind's eye with his physical eyes closed whilst also… busying his physical body by drawing shapes on the ground. Not the most exciting of things to do, but considering how little there was to do around here (largely a reflection of Noire's prude, workaholic nature since this WAS her Dreamworld), one can't be too picky about their activities.

Right now, the former king could sense the said target of his ire somewhere else in the Dreamworld, watching Noire just as he was… though, the last time Siegfried had deigned it necessary to visit him (which was when he had asked him for info on the Devil Trigger), he had found him at some sort of beach section of the world, sunbathing whilst wearing a leather shirt and tan shorts… even sported some shades and sat on a reclining chair reading a newspaper whilst he was at it. Heck, he even had a beach drink on his side, with some... questionable magazines tucked beneath his legs.

Again, zero fucks given.

* * *

Back outside, whilst she wondered where this sudden surge of displeasure towards the Appetite Demon came from, Noire shook her head as she entered what looked to be a circular room… though she quickly realized where it was when she noticed a certain image of the Temen-Ni-Gru spinning about. 'Ugh, I'll try NOT to think about being behind this thing's freaking EYEBALL of all things…. You can do it Noire, you're a strong girl. You've just went through its intestines from its stomach, into some sort of heart-like room, more intestines, killed a parasitic Gigapede whilst slaying a bunch of Demons from the Seven Hells again, Hell Envy's I recall them being, this should be totally fine…' she chanted in her head, although part of her feared the day would eventually come where she would find all this creepy stuff the norm in Gamindustri. Worse still, she felt like that day was rapidly approaching… ugh, she worried for the future…

Shaking her head to get her thoughts back on track, Noire stepped closer into the centre of the room, where she saw what looked to be… some sort of circular orb-like Device in it. Expanding her senses, Noire quickly found how this thing had an INSANE amount of energy within it, energy which felt remarkably similar to the barrier she had encountered before. That only served to make Noire sigh in relief as she stepped forth a single time, holding a hand over her forehead whilst her Tail curved around her to face her front. 'Well, at least we found what we're looking for…'

_…__Interesting, I recall seeing something like this in one of the books we found back at the Divine Library. Apparently, that device is filled to the brim with immense amounts of energy, energy born from those who have felt jealousy, possessiveness or other emotions that follow the Sin of Envy, which is used as the Leviathan's power source. Kind of fitting if you consider how much jealousy once permeated through your Capital when Avenir had been at the peak of its power. It would only make sense for it to be served as the Leviathan's energy source…_

Hearing that caused Noire to grimace, her fists twitching irritably whilst her Tail flicked the ground behind her. Her draconian eyes narrowed into slits as her displeasure with the memories flowing into her became obvious. Yeah, she could see his point there, remembering all those businesses who unfairly lost their jobs had to have been envious of those who still had the ability to make profits thanks to surrendering themselves to that damned company. Even more Envious emotions must have aroused within the hearts of the citizens whenever they were denied access to meeting me in the Basilicom. No wonder why the energies of those Hell Envys were so powerful when she fought them, resembling fighting several groups of smaller Bloodthirsters when she cut them down with Dragon Fault, all this energy must have empowered them in more ways than one. 'Well, in any case, we'll have to take it out somehow, because of the amount of Demons I've slain in the previous corridor, I managed to kill off the ones who should have been in here. As such, I may have to just carve I out with wither Dragon Fault or my HF Blade…'

_…__Maybe, or perhaps-Quick, Noire, DODGE!..._

'EH?!'

Her eyes widened when she sensed bloodlust exploding outward like a hot spring being discovered from above her, and quickly acted on her instincts to roll forwards. Good thing too, because she just barely managed to avoid a figure crashing down into her former position with some kind of large weapon smashing downwards, creating an audible shockwave which spread through the entire Demon. The Leviathan released an irritated sound because of this, shuddering all the way down its body which the occupants behind its eye to almost lose their balance.

"Whoa-whoa-whoa! Demonisangry-Demonisangry-Demonisangry!"

Panic flooded her system when she felt the shuddering nearly cause her to fall over. Noire however retained it by using her wings alongside her arms, until the earthquake-like shudders passed. When it did, she lowered her arms and released a sigh from her chest, an audible one at that. "Phew, that was a close one. I think I almost lost my head just now…" Even with her Dragonblood Form, Noire had been way too used to guarding her head from being decapitated by all manner of weapons, so what had happened just now had pretty much been her honed reflexes taking action. Once she had calmed down however, Noire glanced towards the other occupant in the room, who swiftly stepped out of the created dust cloud to stand before her. "Who are-Oh my Goddess…" she began to yell, only to go wide eyed and speak in a more breathless voice.

**"****You DODGED my ATTACK… You MAY not BE an ELDAR, but YOUR soul LOOKS like IT could be EXQUISITE nonetheless…"**

The person before her, an adult woman though she didn't know as surely as she did initially, hissed at her, letting what looked like a long serpentine tongue with a lipless maw of sharp fangs hang out. The tongue slithered about like a serpent, hissing as it spoke to her, pretty much making Noire recoil in sheer disgust at the sight. If she had thought the DEMONS looked bad, looking at this crazy-eyed lady (seriously she had no irises or pupils to speak of) felt much worse. She looked to have worn a skin-tight suit of black Armour, one with what looked like a kilt/shirt cloth thing hanging down the front of her waist with some strange symbol on it. She had shoulder length black hair which fell down and around the spikes on her shoulder pads, whilst a crimson cape fell down her back towards her knees in length.

Though, if one asked her, what had drawn her attention the most were the weapons she wielded.

Strapped to her waist, was what looked like a Pistol of sorts, a rather large one at that which Noire recognized as a 'Bolter' from the records found in the Divine Library. The sword in her hand, large enough to be called a two-handed sword, looked to be called a 'Runesword', a weapon with snaking tubes embedding themselves into the woman's arm somehow. She could feel dark purple Demonic Power being radiated from that malicious sword in droves which got channelled into it both from itself as well as the woman's own arm through the tubes, enough to make her shudder with dread. She recalled this specific sword to be called the 'Agoniser', too.

Another thing she learned from the Divine Library…. Yeah, she learned a fair amount from that place, and there were still more books to read.

_…__Noire, whatever you do, do NOT let that woman get close to you. I sense the foul taint of Slaanesh coursing through her like she were nothing but a nest for it…_

'Yeah, no need to tell me that, Siegfried! No idea who she is though, but one thing's for sure, she feels like a Chaos Champion like Wolvrik had been…' Noire thought back as she gripped Dragon Fault in a two-handed stance. She held it in front of her and arched the blade into a diagonal position whilst her wings flared, her legs spread themselves apart and her Tail swayed cautiously behind her, ready for battle. Her draconian eyes narrowed at this Champion of Slaanesh, this would be something she'd be experiencing for the first time, a warrior from a Chaos God's cult who wasn't the Chaos God Khorne. Already from their energies, Noire could feel just how different the two were, how Khorne's felt like massive, rampaging berserkers who preferred smashing through everything, these Slaanesh Champions seemed to have more… technique (even though she shuddered in dread at the mention of technique if what she'd read about this Chaos God was any indication) to their fighting styles… just like how she herself used to fight. THAT thought disgusted her even more, the thought of her being even remotely similar to someone like this rubbed her the really wrong way. 'Any chance I can use Balmung or Ashbringer yet…?'

_…__No, not a chance. They still need time to restore themselves…_

**"****NOW then… I, Miriael SABATHIEL, shall CLAIM that SEXY head of YOURS! For SLAANESH!"**

Before Noire could express her frustration with the negative response Siegfried gave her, she got cut off. The woman before her, Miriael as she seemed to call herself, howled like a banshee, her inhuman tongue flailing about like a crazy lunatic (she technically was, following Slaanesh) as she dashed forwards, closing the distance between them instantly with her body almost looking ethereal with how fast she moved.

'Yikes! Gotta block!'

BOOM!

CLANG!

Both blades clashed in a vicious collision, one which shook the air around them. This collision lasted a couple seconds though, before the two broke away to get some distance, and then charged back into one another.

BOOM!

CLANG!

BOOM!

CLANG!

BOOM!

BOOM!

CLANG!

These two weapons repeated the process, each one going for different sections of the opponent's body. Noire focused on the shoulders, since Dragon Fault's specialty lay in its physical prowess thus smashing it into her shoulders would destroy the armour and shatter the bones underneath. Unfortunately for Noire, Dragon Fault still wasn't a sword she could see herself mastering any time soon, especially with her lack of fighting experience with one and a lack of a proper style. She lacked the ability to use it to its full potential even in her Dragonblood Form, especially whenever she tried to counterattack but could only remain on the defensive against the still large but notably faster Anguisher.

She did NOT want to know what would happen if it were to hit her.

In the meantime, Miriael aimed at areas which would inflict the most amount of pain possible, namely the areas which had the most sensitive of nerves so she could elect more screams out of her opponent. Screams of torment would be practically lovely songs to the ears of her chaotic patron, and the more he heard these cries, the greater he will be pleased. Not to mention that her many tens of thousands of years servicing her lord gave her quite the considerable battle experience, which helped her master the art of wielding Anguisher properly.

She thrusted, parried, slashed, twisted, pivoted, repelled etc with a technique and finesse which only someone who had fought as long as she had could demonstrate. She sometimes swiped their blades upwards so she could kick Noire in the gut then launched her tongue to try and take a bite out of her neck only for the blackette to block it with a forearm, her dragon scales rendering the tongue unable to pierce them. Other times the Chaos Champion would repel any of the large swings Noire's Dragon Fault with ease, not considering the tyrannical aura the sword possessed even the tiniest bit threatening in order to get in close and launch a barrage of over 100 slashes a second, which Noire would barely bring her sword back to block alongside her Wings – revealing to the other woman how durable they were.

That wasn't all, however. Both weapons, Dragon Fault and Anguisher, trembled against one another as they struggled for power of dominance over their opponents during another one of their clashes. Noire and Miriael in the meantime, glared heatedly at each other, gritting their respective teeth/fangs at the exertion of strength. These actions caused sparks to fly between their weapons, the areas where they touched rapidly heating up as if they were being forged anew by a master blacksmith.

Though, that didn't last long as the womanly creature… well, just pulled off one of the most disturbing things Noire had ever seen, as in she let her tongue slither out and pretty much made it 'lick' her upside her left cheek. The woman moaned lustfully at the taste, shuddering her whole body almost like she had just climaxed right then and there whilst looking like she had overdosed on drugs yet still remained conscious.

Needless to say...

'Ewwwww, Siegfried PLEASE tell me she did not just do what I think she did!'

… Noire did NOT appreciate the almost violating gesture.

Not in the slightest.

**"****HMMMMMM… yessssss…. YOU do TASTE… divine… HERETIC…" **

Turned out her fears had indeed been confirmed before Siegfried could do so, and much blunter than he had intended too. So blunt, that it pretty much destroyed one of Noire's mental restraints to herself in a complete and brutal manner. As a result, Noire trembled violently as she looked down, hair shadowing her eyes for the briefest of seconds.

Then, she raised her head and showed an absolutely LIVID facial expression, which only served to make the woman before her all the more excited. "You crazy BITCH! First you freaking lick me like I'm some kind of human lollipop that gets you off, then you dare to call me a HERETIC?! Normally I don't like swearing or foul language, but you've fucking PISSED ME OFF! Its go time, bitch, like right the fuck now!" she bellowed, swinging Dragon Fault in a wide arc whilst unleashing a VACUUM SLASH attack.

Now, considering the sword she was currently using, the width and reach of this particular wind blade she launched… one can imagine how large it had been. Enough so that an entire side of the room had become unable to remain as it were before, completely becoming desolated from its pressure and impact force. Unfortunately for Noire, she hadn't hit her target as Miriael had managed to get out the way by jumping over her, somersaulting before landing at her rear and drawing her Bolter. Aiming it at her opponent's back, Miriael smiled shamelessly, her eyes glowing purple with unrepressed desire and excess.

**"****AHHHHH… this is GRAND… the LORD shall be PLEASED with MY next OFFERING… Will YOU not… let me SEND you… to HIM?!" **

After yelling that out, she unloaded a barrage of Bolter rounds upon her opponent, each round shaped like an armour piercing shell that a Tank would use, only smaller. Like it was meant for more of a pistol's use… yet still retaining a large portion of its power, especially when it had been Desecrated like a certain Agent did with his Armour.

Unfortunately for Miriael though she forgot one thing, something which Noire hadn't used much since this battle…

Her Tail.

The moment that her Desecrated Bolter rounds neared their intended target, Noire's instincts flared up and caused her Tail to respond. Erratic, primitive and viciousness could be detected from its ensuing movements as it swished about like a lunatic psychopath, quickly knocking away the bullets which would have hit her otherwise. Each of them hit their surroundings, causing moans of irritation to release themselves from the Leviathan, whilst also damaging the room. Neither of which noticed how there were trails of energy coursing through the air from those bullets and into the centre. In her mind, Noire felt like they wouldn't have punctured her body any since her Dragonblood Form had immense durability, but they would have been annoying to deal with at least.

'Still, this Tail can definitely be a useful tool on the battlefield… who would have thought these extra limbs could be so useful…?' The Lastation goddess couldn't help but ponder for a brief nanosecond. Now she could understand how an Abnormal with multiple different limbs could feel whenever it would go all 'surprise, BITCH1' then launch a sneak attack with one said limb, or maybe even several. She'd already seen how effective having multiple limbs could be, several times in fact, which only compounded their usefulness in her mind.

Though, mind you all this happened within the span of that one nanosecond, so when that nanosecond passed, Noire's eyes hardened into a blade-like steely gaze as she twirled around. This provided a rotating force which allowed her to empower her next swing, something she had intended as Noire brought Dragon Fault down in an overhead smashing arc… ending up meeting the blade of Miriael's Anguisher.

BOOM!

Both weapons collided once more, trembling against one another whilst both women struggled for dominance. Miriael didn't let this stay the case for long though, as she back flipped whilst kicking Noire back, landing on all fours before she hissed venomously towards her. She then pushed herself into the air, landing on one corner of the room before bouncing across to another, sort of like a frog. Grunts and snarls filled the room whilst Noire growled under her breath, getting into a defensive stance and closing her eyes. Instead of tracking her down with visual means, she thought it best to wait and feel the surroundings with her senses, so when she inevitably struck Noire would be able to react in time.

Something which would work against her in the following moments.

A hiss escaped Miriael's lips soon after, a sinister intent shining in her eyes as her tongue shot out, intending to bite on her without her being able to counter it thanks to the speed it moved at. The speed in which it moved… well, it made the Bolter rounds from earlier look like slow turtles in comparison. As a result, a little something happened…

CHOMP!

"Guh!"

Noire cringed and grimaced when she felt the Tongue's fangs bite down on her shoulder blade. Although not very deep despite their sharp size, the Tongue managed to break through the first skin layer of her Dragonblood Form. As a result of her actions, Noire quickly released a drastic war cry as she grabbed onto the Tongue with on hand, forcibly yanking on it and slamming Miriael into the ground. "You REALLY have no idea how disgusting this abomination is, do you?!" Noire yelled, holding the Tongue in her hand (which felt slimy as all hell even as it flailed about trying to escape like a worm) as she, in a fit of rage, stabbed into it with her Tail, earning a vicious howl from the woman thanks to the severing.

Seeing this, a… borderline sadistic smirk slowly spread across her lips. Noire aimed it at her opponent, who writhed on the ground whilst blood poured out from what remained of her severed tongue as it retracted back into her mouth. "What? Can't speak? Oh, I'm sorry did the cat catch your Tongue?" Or in this case a Dragon, she added in her mind, but the effect remained the same:

Miriael looking pissed as fuck.

She tried to speak, but with the loss of her tongue all she could make out were these frantic grunts and snarls which SOUNDED like they could have been words… if fate had been a tad kinder to them. Her eyes gained a bright violet glow to them as a matching smoky aura started enveloping her… all the while, she let out an inhuman, bird-like shriek which could have burst Noire's ear drums. She then gripped her Sword and burst forth, closing the distance on her and striking away like a mad woman.

'Looks like she's on a rage now… I only need one chance at this!'

Noire blocked and defended herself against each slash, though some managed to barely scrape over her Dragonblood Form enhanced flesh which caused her to twist her features inwardly in an attempt to block out the surges of pain when this happened. 'Even when that sword nicks me, all I feel from it is agony…. Guess that's why its called that name, huh…?' she thought, bringing Dragon Fault down on her opponent who jumped backwards, flipping through the air and landing on all fours, growling like a bloodlust-filled animal. She then let out a loud berserker howl, her voice causing the Leviathan they were inside to tremble audibly, before she vanished from view.

This didn't catch Noire by surprise though, as with her hands clenching Dragon Fault's hilt she swung it a full 360 degrees, smacking into Miriael when she appeared behind her right rear flank and knocking her across the room. Not giving her a chance to recover, Noire quickly jumped into the air, flipping through it several times before shooting down towards her position…

And impaling her through the chest with her blade.

The moment her blade pierced through the woman's flesh; it was like an animal wildly flailing about. Frenzied shrieks escaped Miriael's flesh as she flailed her limbs about, dropping Agoniser whilst trying to scratch at her with those clawed hands. At one point, she tried to reach for her Bolter, however Noire's Tail quickly took care of that, smacking her hand away before repeating the process with her Bolter, tossing it across the room so she couldn't use it no more. Blood spewed forth from Miriael's torso like a waterfall, filling the space around her to make a puddle, one which spread across the entire room. 'Holy, just how much blood is in this crazy bitch?!' she mentally shrieked, resisting the urge to cover her nose in an abrupt manner. 'More importantly, ugh! By the Goddesses, what the heck's up with that SMELL?!'

_…__I believe its this Chaos Champion, she seems to have these strange… narcotics for lack of a better word, constantly being synthesized through her body, coursing through it like blood, something which seems to be the norm for Slaanesh Champions according to what we learned from the Divine Library. These Narcotics allow them to always be on a drug-induced high of sorts, allowing them to… you know, act the way they do…_

'I see… I do wonder what these Eldar are, but now's not the time for that…' Noire thought as she quickly pushed downwards, digging Dragon's Fault into the woman's chest whilst her Tail swished about irritably behind her. Miriael's shrieks and howls gradually got more and more erratic as all semblance of reason and sanity got lost to her… though, Noire also couldn't help but notice that her body seemed to… quiver in a manner not unlike that of when it was being… ugh, pleasured as much as she loathed to think about it. 'This bitch seriously disgusts me…' Noire thought, before finally having enough of this and finishing Miriael off by stabbing through her head with her Tail.

Instantly, her movements stopped as Miriael's limbs fell to the ground, unmoving.

As she saw this, Noire released a sigh from her lips as she hung her head. "Whew, that'd been a tight one…" she muttered in reference to the battle. It may have been short, but the battle held a lot more technique-based swordplay in it than she had expected. It felt like while Slaanesh Champions liked to enjoy certain… things, more so than anything ese, they also prided themselves on techniques rather than blunt force, unlike the axe-wielding bloodhounds belonging to Khorne who mainly go for more brutal killings. Slowly standing upright, Noire took her sword out of the corpse…

Before her eyes widened when a vision assaulted her mind.

* * *

A woman, a warrior sworn to protect as a sister of battle, captured…

Her captor, a Chaos Champion, corrupted her after many rounds of agonising torture, bringing her into the cult of Slaanesh…

Comrades of the woman tried to rescue her, unaware of the trap she laid in wait for them…

The same Comrades fell into the trap, dying one after another by the woman's hand…

In the end, the woman killed all her former comrades, corrupting one into the grip of Chaos…

The woman, now free to pursue her ambitions, set upon her crusade to capture her lord's favourite prey…

* * *

At least, this time Noire found herself able to at least recover moderately quickly from this vision, a rather short one to be frank. However, it still showed her just as much information as the rest of the visions she had. She didn't understand what these visions were, where they came from, why they were happening or anything regarding it, but one thing had been for certain: that they showed her information pertaining to her target. To be more specific, they dug up events of the past pertaining to the target and showed it to her as a vision… although she wasn't sure why this happened in some cases and not others.

Still… Noire couldn't help but feel an increasing amount of hatred towards this woman from what she had seen. Apparently, according to what she had seen this woman used to be part of a group of all-female warriors, known to many throughout the Devildimension (she didn't see anything that this woman hadn't seen herself though) as the 'Order of Our Martyred Lady', one of these sub groups belonging to a bigger one called the 'Sisters of battle' a group established over 4000 years ago in the far reaches of the Devildimension. The fact that there were humans out there beyond Gamindustri didn't surprise her as much as she thought it would have, though she figured that to be due to the invading forces from outside being mostly human.

She had been apparently captured by a 'Chaos Lord' (pretty much a stronger Champion of Chaos, the strongest type actually) called Balzaropht (what was with people beyond Gamindustri and their weird naming sense?), who corrupted her after many rounds of agonising torture, bringing her into the cult of Slaanesh. She'd been recorded as the first of her group to fall to Chaos of her own will, though.

Balzaropht had great plans for Sabathiel, but the news of her fateful return from the dead reached her group, which resulted in them forming a party made from her former friends/comrades to rescue her from the clutches of Chaos. To put an end to the hunt, Sabathiel had come to a world called 'Cauldrus Prime', conducted three mass-killings in such a way as to suggest this was the work of a Battle-Sister, and then hid in Namgorod, the old capital of Cauldrus Prime's freezing northern region.

A man by the name of Pavlov Curtz, the Regent of Kaerograd, the planetary capital of Cauldrus Prime, assumed these actions must have been performed by some Chaos imposter from the nearby embattled Pyrus Reach trying to stain the Order of Our Martyred Lady's name. He discreetly transmitted reports through ecumenic channels to alert the authorities to the defamation. At the same time, he sent a "Catcher-of-Men", a local bounty hunter, Lowen Tegget, to eliminate "the miscreant" in secret.

Shortly thereafter, veteran Battle-Sisters Elias and Bernadet secretly arrived on Cauldrus Prime and made inquiries of Regent Curtz. After appraising the situation, they immediately followed the tracker that Tegget carried at the Regent's orders, without waiting for the reinforcements Curtz wanted to gather from the Cauldrus Prime's Planetary Defence Forces, the Interior Guard, in order to prevent Miriael's existence from becoming known to the wider public, badly tarnishing their group's image.

This led her companions to fall into their former sister's trap - Sabathiel used Tegget to kill the Sisters Elias and Bernadet, despite their repeated offers to find a way to redeem Sabathiel from the clutches of damnation. Thus freed from her pursuers, Miriael Sabathiel corrupted Lowen Tegget to the service of Chaos, took him as ally and servant, and stated her intention to hunt Eldar, always the favoured prey of the servants of Slaanesh.

She figured the stuff she hadn't seen had been shown to her by her Chaotic Patron.

As she looked down to where Miria's form lay, which rapidly began decomposing like it was being rapidly eaten alive by bugs, Noire's scowl deepened. 'This bitch… she may have been tortured into doing it, but she willing chose to throw away her own ambitions to side with the lords of Chaos. She chose to sacrifice her own comrades for these so-called 'Gods'!' she screamed in her mind, gradually getting louder and louder in her thoughts. Her fist, the one which wasn't holding Dragon Fault, clenched itself tightly, enough for it to break through the skin and cause blood to drop from it.

Noire LOATHED betrayal, people who would discard others' loyalty to them for their own sick games. She never like people who would betray others for their own ends, and this woman was no exception. She remembered how Ganache did the same, the slimy weasel that he was. It was obvious that Miriael didn't give a damn about her comrades at this point, she would rather be with her own Chaos God than be faithful to those whom she had fought alongside as brothers and sisters in arms. Noire despised that, even though she had been made aware of how she had been tormented till she reached this state, she didn't even dare to think this would be enough for her to warrant forgiveness.

_… __Unfortunately, Noire, this is simply part of nature, Noire. Betrayal, arrogance, pride, all these negative emotions pertaining to the seven deadly sins are commonplace in life. The Chaos Gods, they prey on these emotions, they are personified by them which allows them to corrupt countless into their service with promises of glory and immortality. Man's greatest sins, alongside the sins of any species out there, helped create these Gods which now plague the Devildimension. Even if one is a trusted comrade, none can ever truly become immune to the hands of Chaos itself, Noire. You'll have to accept that one day, as hard as it will be for you. On another note, I have something interesting to inform you of…_

Whilst she bristled and reluctantly agreed with Siegfried with his first point, how these things were all part of people's hearts and thus, she would have to come to terms with seeing people like that a lot, Noire's intrigue grew when she heard him say those following words. She wouldn't mind the topic changing into something of a more positive note. 'Oh? What is it then, speak.' she demanded, raising Dragon Fault and strapping it to her back.

_… __I know what it is behind that barrier: It's the Heroic Spirit we have been sensing, and whilst you fought this Champion of Slaanesh, this Spirit contacted me. The Spirit did not state its name, but from what I could sense it is indeed a Caster type, though I am unsure as to all of its intentions. Nonetheless, the Spirit wishes to meet us face to face…_

'I see…' Noire replied, glancing to where she came from and noticing how Tusks formed over the entrance in an attempt to bar her path. Noire wouldn't allow that however, but before she could take care of THAT little issue, the blackette stepped forth towards the centre of the room, where she saw the device… having been presented before her like some form of pedestal. 'Now THAT is something… Wonder what's making this happen, then…' she wondered, soon coming to a realization of her own. 'Wait, since this thing's meant to be the source of energy formed from jealousy-based emotions, then could that mean that Miriael felt envious or something? Now that I look at it, I can sense her soul inside here, which probably means it absorbed the soul. Guess this was kind of like a blood offering, kill an envious soul to set this thing free then take it for my own…' she assumed, reaching out and plucking the orb-like device. All the while, she quickly became aware of how dark everything had become, which caused her to conclude that the device was responsible.

Whelp, not exactly her problem.

With that out of the way, Noire turned on her clawed feet to where the entrance she'd taken before had been, fortunately still illuminated by some faint lighting somehow so she could easily make it out. As she stepped forwards, drawing Dragon Fault, Noire made a large exertion of strength to empower her swing, before she smashed the Tusks to pieces with unrelenting force. 'Hmph, should have done that before if I wasn't so inexperienced with Dragon Faults strength…' Noire thought, rolling her eyes before stepping through to head back to that barrier.

* * *

Returning to the place with the demonic energy barrier, Noire tried to look through it to see if she could see the so called 'Heroic Spirit' which Siegfried had informed her of. According to him, it had been a Caster type, and not only that but it had been the same Caster type they had talked about before when they'd been deciding on the origins of the Spell over Lastation's Capital. As such, he had warned her not to underestimate this being, a being who specialized in Magic which was something Lowee had in spades. Noire knew this due to past experiences with their CPU who, despite her appearance, also had a strong affinity for Magic but just favoured her also excellent brutal strength approach. Well, it wasn't like her temper could help any.

'Whelp, I'm back here…' Noire thought as she looked down, pulling out the device which she had yanked out from the eye-like room she had fought Miriael in. 'This thing better work like I think it does… I'll be right pissed if it doesn't, with all the trouble I went through to get it…' she thought again before she stepped towards the pedestal she'd seen earlier. There, she placed the device atop it, before stepping back to wait for something to happen. She didn't have to wait for long though, since the barrier soon closed itself down by vanishing into particles, similar to a defeated Monster.

The moment it did, Noire IMMEDIATELY tensed up, her Tail flaring about like an agitated serpent as her senses bombarded her with huge portions of Mana. The power source for magic users like MAGES., though Compa would be an exception. 'This…. This is…!' she thought, her breath catching itself in her throat whilst sweat rolled down her forehead like bullets. A huge surge of nervousness and anxiety coursed through her, even as her legs automatically began moving her forwards towards the source with each step feeling heavier than the last. Part of her wanted to stop her legs from moving at all, but her limbs wouldn't listen to what her brain was telling her.

_…__Do not be alarmed Noire, this Heroic Spirit harbours little ill intent for you at the moment. In fact, it feels more like he is wishing for a discussion, but is testing you first…_

Siegfried's words coursed through her mind, sending a wave of calmness through Noire's body. She barely stopped her legs this time but continued once she had taken a deep breath and steeled her nerves. 'Whelp, here's to hoping your right, Siegfried…' she thought as she stepped closer and closer to the three sack-like organs… organs whish suspiciously pulsated every couple of moments. Seemed to her, like those were actually the Leviathan's hearts, which if that were the case then she could believe it. A massive creature like this, it'd definitely need more than one heart to properly function.

As for this Heroic Spirit... whichever one it was, she hoped she'd be able to recognize him or her, as even though Siegfried had helped her with her studies into all kinds of myths and legends, she wouldn't quite call herself well-schooled in this art just yet. There were just too many different legends and interpretations for them, nearly making her brain melt from all the knowledge her partner had crammed into her brain.

"Stop. That is close enough."

Then all of a sudden, a voice rang out, and though she didn't focus enough to tell what kind of gender it could have been, Noire quickly complied (even as her pride screamed at her not to be so submissive). She had stopped in the middle of a large platform, one which she had stopped the moment her feet first touched it after carefully descending down some sort of slope. 'Here we go…'

At once, did something follow her actions, as what looked like… a sphere of light appeared within the centre of the room, almost phasing into existence from the land of oblivion. Noire cursed under her breath, feeling the light on hr skin so much that she almost wondered if she got some form of sunburn from it whilst she covered her eyes with her right forearm. Her hair fluttered behind her like waves, flailing about crazily from the generated winds. 'Siegfried… this must be…!'

_…__Indeed!... _

After a few seconds did the light die down, and when it did Noire lowered her arm. There, she laid eyes upon the space where instead of a light, she saw a figure standing there.

_… __This power… yes, indeed. It is a Heroic Spirit, a Caster Class!..._

* * *

**Chapter end!**

**Alright, another one down! Ok, for those of you who are wondering, the ability that Noire is subconsciously tapping into will be revealed once she surpasses the latest bottleneck, which she will definitely do in this story. I just have to plan out how she can do that, though thankfully the wuxia Desolate Era helped me out there. As for the Heroic Spirit she intends to fight against, well you'll have to see in the next chapter won't we?**


	18. Chapter 18 - Heroic second Trigger

**Chapter 18 - Heroic second Trigger**

At this point, Noire thought it best to have little to no expectations anymore when regarding new stuff right now.

The person who stood before her with their arms crossed in a manner not unlike when someone is looking down on another, looked to be a very muscular adult male, likely in his mid to late twenties… kind of like Siegfried in a way. Both of them had this warrior feel to them, with this one being more... primitive, barbaric even. The man stood towering over her at 6 foot 5, with black hair which went down to his waist. His hair looked like it had been styled into these braided dreadlocks, whilst a headband went around the top of his head likely to keep his bangs out his clear silver eyes.

He had a slightly tanned skin tone, with as per mentioned in the last paragraph a fairly muscular physique. Though, Noire would be a fool to assume such a build didn't offer any speed whatsoever, since appearances can be deceiving. A certain brown haired, business suit-wearing man from Lastation entered her mind when she thought this. As for the man himself, he had… what looked to be some sort of white war paint, she wasn't exactly sure, which ran down the centre of his forehead, down his face, neck, torso and down to his abdomen which got concealed by a large set of bandages. Similar lines of war paint went down his arms from his shoulders, into the bandages around his forearms. What looked like a tribal necklace hung itself from his neck, whilst aside from that and the bandages, his upper body remained largely uncovered. Not even a spec of armour even, which both embarrassed and worried her Hey, she'd seen naked guys before in pictures and magazine adverts, but not like this you know! As for his lower body, he wore a pair of large, baggy pants with tattered ends, showing his bare feet. At his side, he seemed to carry some bird-like tribal feathers.

All in all, NOT what she had expected for a Caster Heroic Spirit.

'Siegfried… are you SURE this guy's a Caster class? From where I'm standing, he looks more like a Berserker or a really buff Saber Class…' Noire questioned her Heroic Spirit. It wasn't to say she didn't trust his judgement, but something about this just screamed at her that this guy wasn't a Caster type of person. Just look at him, he didn't have any of the stereotypical mage-like attire, appearance anything! No hooded robes, no wands or staffs, nor did he look like some lanky asshole who muttered arcane spells every few seconds.

_… __I am positive, Noire, I can feel strong Mana coming from him, mana which is unique to a Caster Heroic Spirit. We Heroic Spirits can identify each other's class at a glance, though in some cases it is more difficult to determine than others like if they have Noble Phantasms which hide their powers. Though, I will admit I do not know who this one is, though judging by his appearance… I would guess he used to belong to some form of tribe…_

"So…" Noire began after a tense silence had overtaken them. The thumping of the three hearts surrounding the two didn't even register to their senses, as all the two focused on had been each other. Noire's Tail flickered itself in an uneasy manner, reflecting the anxiety gnawing at her bones. As she stared at the man before her, she tried to see if she could decipher anything about his personality from his eyes, however those attempts failed. Not only did he not expose anything, but it felt almost like he had pierced straight into her very soul with his gaze alone. Swallowing back her nervousness, Noire continued her sentence with a heavy weight on her shoulders… not the wings on her back though. "I presume you are the Caster Heroic Spirit?"

For a moment, she wondered if the man would respond to her words, and during that time she felt he wouldn't. However, that soon changed when the man nodded his head in her direction. "You would be correct in your assumptions, Black Heart, Goddess Spirit of Lastation." He replied, though Noire blinked owlishly at two things: One, the fact that right off the bat the man had ascertained her identity just like that. Her current form… wasn't exactly something she could say most knew about, in fact only she knew of it at this point. The second, was that the man called her a Spirit, that sounded familiar to her, but she couldn't quite make out where that came from. "Do not be alarmed, I am aware of your existence simply due to my master informing me of your arrival. I have been waiting patiently for you ever since." He spoke, his tone passive and indifferent like that information wasn't worth a damn to anybody.

It did have worth for her though, as she ran through a multitude of scenarios of which she could have assumed with this information. Master? So, the theory about this Heroic Spirit being a Servant had been correct, then. In that case, who would be able to summon such a being from the Throne of Heroes into Gamindustri once their time had passed? After a couple of seconds, she thought of only one man who could do such a thing, which prompted her eyes to narrow. "Master? Do you mean to tell me your master is Vicious?" she questioned, frowning.

For some reason, she couldn't quite see that if it were indeed the case. That guy looked more like someone who would rather do things himself, or if he did have minions, they wouldn't be allowed any form of individuality unlike what she had been seeing here. Siegfried once mentioned it to her, that in terms of summoning them as Servants, Heroic Spirits have a 3-counter set rule, in which when the Master invokes a certain chant, they must obey whatever that rule is no matter how they feel about it. It wasn't a nice thing, Noire had to admit since it allowed so much freedom of flexibility for the master yet none of that for the Heroic Spirit. She didn't like that one bit.

"Who my Master is, is insignificant in the grand scheme at play here." The man, Caster she'll call him since Noire doubted this guy would give her his true name so easily, stated indifferently, though Noire sensed an undertone of finality to it. It'd be essentially like spelling out his weaknesses to her since their names were pretty much the sources of their Legends. "All that you should be focused on, is that you and I are meant to fight to the DEATH here, such is the will of my Master." He stated, throwing his arm to the side whilst doing so.

The moment he did, the man began mumbling some sort of chant under his breath. Whilst doing so, her eyes widened when she saw several lines form over his entire arm, crackling energy coursing through them down to his hand. When they reached his hand, the energy quickly gathered inside it, elongating and solidifying into a… well, a Tribal-like Spear. Yet, there was an aura of energy emitting from it, an energy which seemed almost… spiritual in nature. The Spear easily matched his height with its length, with an arrowhead shaped tip, one with feathers attached to the base. Gripping the Spear with one hand, the man twirled it like a helicopter blade, demonstrating his skill before he settled in a fighting stance. This stance revolved around him spreading his feet apart, bending his legs whilst leaning forwards, his Spear being held downwards at a diagonal angle.

**(Play OST - Fate/Apocrypha** **BGM - Battle Theme) **

'Grr! This guy feels like a machine! Odds are I'll never get anything out of him like this…! #SIGH# Well, I figured we'd be fighting before too long, so its no big loss. I'll just beat him into submission, then-' Noire began to say, before she gasped when Caster blasted forwards, dashing through the air and clearing the distance between them in a second. His eyes sharpened as he swung his Spear in a diagonal upward slash from right to left.

Quickly drawing Dragon Fault, Noire brought the Heavy Sword down on the Spear which shot towards it with equal force. The two weapons collided, causing a massive shockwave to erupt around them like a sonic boom. The very air itself seemed to tremble from the waves emitted by these two weapons, as Noire and Caster held them at each other in a struggle for dominance. Energy sparks flew from both of them, spiritual ones from the Spear whilst normal ones came from Noire's Dragon Fault. To said Goddess, even in this form she could feel the sheer strength behind that attack, it practically caused her arms to freaking tremble!

This guy…

He had freakish strength!

'The hell?! Is he using magic or something…?!' Noire wondered as she got pushed back a few meters. The man mumbled something else, before these complex looking glyphs appeared before him which unleashed vicious-looking wind blades. Raw power filled them which only got matched by their speed, something which Noire barely managed to avoid getting bisected from. Though, this turned out to be a distraction when, out the corner of her eye, she saw a Spear tip already flying towards her face. Quickly, Noire countered with her Tail wrapping it around the Spear by the base of its blade, halting it in place though the weapon and limb trembled audibly.

Learning from past mistakes was something she personally prided herself on, so Noire didn't let Caster get any further openings by swiftly swinging Dragon Fault in a reverse diagonal upward slash. The man managed to bend himself backwards, avoiding the blade as it sailed over his facial features, and when it passed, he launched a snap kick to Noire's jaw. A snap kick which she reflexively countered with one of her own.

BANG!

Another shockwave happened, this one arguably smaller thanks to the decrease in size of the components involved, but still powerful all the same. Noire and Caster stared at one another during this brief period of respite between their battle, one having a heated stare whilst the other remained indifferent. This stare-down however, didn't serve to last very long, as the two started repeatedly launching kicks at one another with shockwaves exploding out between each time their legs collided.

BANG-BANG- BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG- BANG-BANG- BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG- BANG-BANG- BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-!

They went, their legs nothing but blurs which remained invisible to the naked eye thanks to how fast they moved. A sheer battle of wills took place as the two battling combatants remained locked in a staring contest, waiting to see who would break it first. Eventually, both broke off at the same time, both in the staring contest and their kicking festivals as they jumped back to get some distance.

Landing on the ground, Noire grimaced when she slid to a halt, feeling a throbbing pain in her foot which she had used for that kicking fest she had just participated in. Although her Tail helped stabilize her for now, the fact that this throbbing would likely impede her ability to fight remained confirmed in her mind. 'Tch, that wasn't a good move on my part. Looks like this guy's strength is capable of damaging me even in this form. That fest could have smashed my leg into pieces if I were in my human form… not so sure about HDD though.' She thought to herself, scowling as she held her Heavy Sword in a defensive stance. Gripping it's hilt, the blackette raised it up high in a traditional kendo stance, before she brought it down and unleashed a VACUUM SLASH at her opponent.

The VACUUM SLASH, larger than normal thanks to Dragon Fault, howled as it raced towards its target. Said target however, held his free hand forwards whilst muttering a chant, allowing a barrier to form between him and the attack itself. This resulted in the attack instantly vanishing on contact with the barrier, unable to pass through its defences. At this, Noire growled to herself, feeling her draconian instincts howling with the desire to rip this man apart for his transgressions against her. Although, she managed to keep herself stable for the most part. 'These dragon instincts are no joke… Siegfried, what do you think of this guy so far?'

_… __It would seem that close combat is not the ideal option, as it is apparent that he is quite proficient at it. Ranged combat would be advisable, but you yourself have little in that field other than your Handguns, Artemis which will not be feasible, and your Skills. Your Skills will be your best bet, but you'll have to find a way around his Magic first. If you were to have been able to use either Ashbringer or Balmung, things would have looked up for you, but alas it is still too early for them to come out once more…_

True, the loss of those swords indeed remained a heavy decrease of her overall combat ability. Not to mention the powers that they possessed like the LIGHT DRIVE of Ashbringer could only be used when those weapons were summoned, so she couldn't use their Skills either. As such, Noire REALLY hated how her match with Vicious had left her in this weakened state, with only an untrained Heavy Sword, a new form to call her own which replaced an old one, and lastly too little experience with both.

"Initial start hasn't been terrible…"

Instincts screamed at her, and Noire quickly brought up her Heavy Sword, blocking the strike of an impending Spear thrust. This resulted in her sliding across the room, before she spread her wings to take to the skies, which actually ended up saving her skin since Caster had appeared before that space with a high-speed decapitation attempt. Twirling around, he raised his Spear and blocked a spinning drill kick Noire made, using her uninjured foot as the medium. 'Tch, his defence still hasn't been penetrated yet…' she thought, flipping off him and landing on the ground in a crouching position all the while flicking her Tail about to try and put up a defence for her temporary uneven balance.

Too bad the man practically vanished in a burst of speed, appearing beside her with his Spear aimed at her neck. Noire barely managed to block with one of her wings, though she winced and barely managed to hold on. Now that she could see him without the Heroic Spirit Moving for a moment, she spotted how his body seemed to constantly be covered in those lines of his, filling him with arcane Mana. 'The amount of Mana I can feel from this guy… is just insane!' she thought with resentment.

Pushing those feelings aside, Noire got back up and thrusted her Heavy Sword at her enemy after flinging her wing upwards to knock his Spear away, not letting him get the next opportunity to attack her. However, the man managed to shift the grip on his Spear, so its rear end stabbed into the ground, as well as use the momentum to flip over the woman, swinging at her exposed back too fast or her Tail to intercept in time. As such, Noire felt it scrape against her back though her Dragonblood Form successfully defended against it. She stumbled forwards regardless from the hit, twisting around for any sign of a follow-up attack, but only got treated to the sight of Caster flipping back again.

"You're holding back on me, aren't you?" Noire questioned with her eyes narrowed at her opponent, holding Dragon's Fault at the ready. Up until now, she held more than a few suspicions in her heart about the fight so far, as whilst it remained as intense as the fight between Okada and herself along with the rest of the CPUs, Compa, IF, Isaac, Stefan (part of her exploded in guilt at his passing, though it wouldn't compare to what Vert would feel) and Guts, she couldn't help but be suspicious that this man wasn't going all out. Just now, she felt like she could finally confirm it for herself.

The man before her nodded, before he made an observation of his own. "You yourself are not at your best." He stated, causing her eyes to widen in surprise. "I was merely testing you, before. From what I have seen, it appears you have not yet recovered from your last battle. Your power remains partially damaged, impeding you from your full fighting prowess. Your primary skill must lay in technique instead of brutish force you have displayed thus far." He remarked in an analytical tone… something which Noire found strangely refreshing for some reason, despite having felt like she had been dressed down to the bones by his words.

It was as he said though, and Noire could never have denied that. The powers that she possessed weren't at their optimal, what with Balmung and Ashbringer needing to be repaired thanks to Vicious, her Dragonblood form and Heavy Sword Skills in their infancy, as well as her remaining weapons not being nearly as strong enough for future battles. Noire tried not to let it get to her, but nonetheless she feared much for her future if this would be allowed to continue.

"Divine Spirit. Tell me…" Suddenly hearing the man speak brought her thoughts out of those matters and back to him, proof being evident when she looked towards Caster. Once she did, she saw how he had created a second Spear in his other hand, making her mentally dread the inevitability of their fight continuing. If just one Spear had been enough to give her trouble, two may just be a nightmare. "What are your intentions in this tribulation?"

Blinking in surprise of his question, an "Eh?" escaped Noire's lips as she found herself taken aback by the question. Well, it wasn't exactly the question itself, but more on the lines of the suddenness and the fact that the Heroic Spirit had asked her at all. She would have thought that whoever this master of his would have tried to keep him silent in battle. Nevertheless, the way she saw him looking at her… Noire found it very familiar. It felt so much like how Siegfried looked at her when they first talked in his castle. The look of testing her, to try and see her true goals in the situation she had been put under.

The fact that she had been reminded of Siegfried when looking at this man, gave Noire a bit of insight into this man's character, not just what she felt when they locked weapons. "My intentions…? That's simple, then. I want to make sure my people don't have to suffer any longer." Noire replied, gesturing to their surroundings when she really meant the entire situation SONY had been in. "This tower, everything that's happened so far, endangers their lives, and as their Leader I can't allow that to continue."

"Is that so…?" the man mumbled, but she could still har him speak as his eyes began to glow. Same with the rest of his body, energy lines travelling up and down it till they reached both the surrounding atmosphere as well as the ground beneath his feet, covering a decent radius around him. Noire began to sense the power of Mana gathering in the air, which quickly informed her something major had begun to happen, so she got into a defensive stance with Dragon Fault at the ready, her Wings uncurled, and her Tail poised to strike. "Interesting… then let us see about that… Come! My army!"

Did he just say Army? Noire blinked when she heard his words, quickly noticing a surge of Hell Envys, more than a few Hell Lusts and Hell Gluttonys which numbered at 20 each, before lastly a set of 10 Hell Greeds appearing around him. The moment that they appeared, Noire noticed how the ambient Mana in the air seemed to solidify itself into a physical form, one in which took the form of an army camp which expanded across the entire room they had been fighting in. 'What the… wait, Siegfried told me once that there were certain Skills which were unique to certain Servant Classes.' She thought after a momentary bout with confusion and puzzlement. 'Let's see…. I think the unique skills for the Caster Class were ITEM CONSTRUCTION and TERRITOORY CREATION. The former serves like its name implies, as it creates constructs out of Mana, but depends on how many materials one can amass to make these weapons, as well as time. If what I've seen is any indication, he's likely made dozens of weapons for his own use beforehand and has thus stored them away. As for the latter, that one usually forms as manifesting a special terrain that is advantageous to oneself as a Mage.'

All the more reason for her to wonder about this Caster, since the territory he had created formed as a decent camp site similar to ones barbarians used back in the primitive days of Leanbox, what with tents, ammo depos etc without any kind of fortification. Of course the tents and stuff seemed to have been put to the outlines of the room so they didn't get caught up in this battlefield… but when Noire looked at the various Demons approaching her warily, surprising her somewhat, the blackette noticed that Mana seemingly kept funnelling into them from their surroundings. It basically told her what kind of effect this territory had on them, causing Noire to furrow her brows. 'I see… so this place serves as a boon to those allied with Caster, huh?' she remarked mentally, readying herself when she saw the Hell Lusts kneel down which was something they did before an inevitable backflip then charge.

Before the army though, stood Caster himself as he held his Spears at the ready, his eyes locked on her form with a look of icy coldness spreading through his visage. "Not quite the Apaches I once lead to battle, but it is my Master's will, so let it be so…" He mumbled beneath his breath, but Noire just barely noticed.

Instead, she focused more on one little Detail that he had mentioned, causing her brows to furrow as a surge of familiarity exploded within her chest. 'Apaches…? Wait, I'm getting a picture here… I just have to put everything I've discovered till now together and I'll be able to figure out this guy's true name!' Noire thought, before shifting her focus back to the approaching Demon Army with Caster at the lead. 'But first, I'll have to take these guys out, then focus on Caster. The Greeds will be first, then the Lusts since they are too annoying to deal with in groups. The Gluttonys and Envys will be last.' All this thinking and planning actually took a second or two for Noire to come up with, as the Demon Army charged with Caster taking the head. An image came to Noire's mind when she saw this, but she put it aside in favour of blasting forwards.

After all, the time for thinking and talking had passed, now would be the time for battle.

**(OST Pause)**

* * *

Deep within the depths of Noire's Consciousness, one could not see anything.

After all, that was pretty much what a void was by definition, so being able to see anything would be classed as kind of stupid.

However, whilst one wouldn't be able to SEE anything in this deep, dark, eternal abyss, if one were to try to use their other senses, a whole different story would be told.

Deep within the abyss, the slumbering Demonic Power, which had once already awoken before, began to stir when it sensed the adrenaline of combat surging through Noire's body. Although it currently held no dominion over her thanks to the Dragonblood, the fact that it had already awakened allowed it to resume its activities.

It had not been able to get released by its master before, and at first it hadn't known why, until it realized that the initial awakening had been unable to impact on her the memory of the awakening process properly. Normally after it awakened, the process would have been embedded inside the soul of the user, therefore….

Well, it knew what it needed to do…

Slowly, within the abyss two red lines suddenly formed out of the darkness, shaped similar to reverse arcs with tiny bits of lines made from pure Demonic energy branching off them. Those arc-like lines then shifted once more, rising upwards to reveal how they were, in reality, a pair of hollow crimson eyes slowly opening up.

Looked like the initial awakening wasn't enough…

Thus, it would be time for a repeat performance.

* * *

Within Noire's Dreamworld…

"Hm?" Whilst he read the newspaper in hands, when in reality he had been watching his current host's progress from his spot on this lovely beach, the Appetite Demon Rik arched a brow when he began to sense something beginning to change within the blackette. He put his newspaper down and closed his eyes, leaning backwards before he expanded his senses to see what was going on…

Before a smile formed on his lips.

Finally, it was beginning to happen once again. "It's a good thing Noire absorbed all the Demon Souls she had been around since her first discovery of it, the amount of power amassed by this has allowed her inner Devil to wake up on its own once again…" The man mumbled under his breath as sensations began to well up from within his being. Sensations which he would only feel when Noire triggered the Devil inside, something he had been waiting for, for a significant time.

To control the power of the Devil, is simple: one need's an extremely powerful will. Relying on others is not something which nurture's one's own will, only individual hardship, pain, misery and excessive suffering is able to harden the soul and strengthen the resolve of the victim involved. Those who go through it more than others will become greater attuned to Demonic Power, whilst the weaker willed either are unable to completely control it, or the energy will end up devouring them from the inside out. The DPUs code of 'strength equalling survival' stems from this principle, which was also the source of the reason why he refused to give Noire any kind of pointers when requested by Siegfried, not even when he became less and less courteous towards him.

Teamwork? Pah, that just meant that one wasn't strong enough to do something on their own.

Not everything can be solved by it.

Control of Demonic Power fell under this category of being controlled only through sheer willpower.

Anyone who values teamwork would be a piece of absolute garbage in the eyes of the natural order and would not deserve any happiness in life.

Right now, seeing as how Noire had been going through one trial after another, it seemed that her willpower had been growing increasingly more powerful and sturdy compared to when she'd first unlocked the Devil Trigger. Perhaps her will being slightly insufficient was what caused her to lack the know-how to unlock it herself when she should have been able to do so naturally by now.

With everything that began to happen, Rik decided to open his eyes, smile calmly then take a sip of his drink. He then took back his newspaper and resumed his reading, eagerly awaiting the following events.

"Well then, Noire… lets see if you can once again trigger the Devil inside…"

* * *

**(OST resumes)**

Back outside…

After what felt like hours when in reality it had only been about 10 minutes, Noire had finished taking out the Demons which had been summoned by Caster. She'd managed to do so without gaining any lasting injuries, though some minor scars and scraps could be seen here and there over her Dragonblood Form. Said Form drew no small amounts of surprise from the Goddess yet again, with how durable it had been as well as how easily it was maintained through battle, even after all this time when she had never once returned to her human form. If there truly was a limit to how long she could stay in this form, she'd guess it was an extremely long one.

Other than excessive damage to her which would force it to deactivate, Noire felt like there would be no way to forcefully eject her out of this Form. However, she didn't dare let this power get to her head and make her act all smug and arrogant. Not only did that make tyrants out of leaders who would eventually get overthrown by their subjects, but she had to admit the lethality of her opponent. The Camp Territory which Caster had created managed to buff them quite significantly, the blackette had realized not too long into the battle when every hit launched against her had much more weight and force than what she had been used to before.

Instead of the weak slashes, the Hell Lusts struck at almost half the power of an Anti-Army Noble Phantasm. Basically nearly 50% the power of Balmung's TWILIGHT WAVE. Similar powerups happened to the rest of the Demons, like the Hell Greeds being able to summon multiple dozens of Demons at once of varying types, even changing the Demons from ones outside the Seven Hells Demon Army to things like the Hellions, Traumas, the Infernals, dozens of types Noire had both heard of and heard nothing about which proved quite problematic. Though thankfully they couldn't summon Demons above Sky Class otherwise she'd be in BIG trouble.

Once again, she realized how dangerous a Heroic Spirit could be: First Okada, then Siegfried and now this guy…

Who she felt like she had a pretty good idea of his true identity up until this point.

Standing before her with Mana covering his body and healing wounds he had been dealt to during this last bout, Caster stared down at Noire with his eyes impassive, even as his Spears cracked and shattered in his hands, unable to maintain themselves any long from past brunt force attacks from Dragon Fault. "Your talent in the way of the sword is not to be underestimated…" the man spoke calmly even so, as he summoned what looked like a Bow of sorts to aim it at her whilst she kneeled like a knight, her defences temporarily down. "However, your stamina is running dry. I shall dispose of you now, for my Master…"

What Noire countered with however, had been enough to stop him dead in his tracks, however...

"… Geronimo."

"?!"

Slowly, Noire raised her head when she spoke that one word, her eyes shining in comprehension as she stared at the man before her whom she had called Geronimo. Just as slowly she stood back on her own two, her Wings casually unfurling and her Tail flicking about behind her. "…That's your true name, isn't it? Geronimo: a warrior of the Apaches, one of the aboriginal people from Leanbox's barbarian days. Originally owner of a carefree name that meant "the one who yawns" in the Apache language, your life completely changed when you were 20 years old. Upon seeing your wife and children slaughtered by Lowean soldiers, you made a bold speech and carried out a revenge against the Lowean army as a "warrior".

Out of the various myths which she had looked into, a lot of them had been ones which originated from Leanbox and Lastation, mostly due to the latter being her home and the former being the birthplace of that perverted Assassin Class Okada Izou. As such, she had looked up the Legend of Geronimo, someone who came into being during the days when Leanbox had been filled with countless barbarian clans, some more violent and savage than others. The Apache clan had been one of them, and during a large period of time they had been more on the pacifist lifestyle. However, they'd lain on some vast resources, rich land, and other materials greatly desired, so the other tribes did what they did best back then. Obviously, that ended up coming to bite them in the ass since Geronimo single handedly transformed the entire tribe into one of the most vicious ones in that age.

Although a Mage which was quite a taboo thing back in Leanbox during those days, he had no connections to Lowee, not even a spec of family relation which could imply him of Lowean descent. Rather, the guy could be considered more along the lines of a Freelancer. Despite being summoned as Caster, Geronimo obviously boasts a martial story improper for a Caster. His Personal Skill, BLOODSTAINED DEMON, provides great bonuses to close-range combat power, since he possesses proficiency with the bow, spear and knife, something Noire herself had learned the hard way. This, along with a few other observations she'd made about him along with his prowess during this battle, helped her come to this conclusion…

And she didn't feel like she would be wrong either.

"You…"

For a moment, the man looked to have been caught by surprise at Noire's words, quickly running through the fight in his mind and discovering how, in some bits, she had an air of observation about her. This revelation served to surprise him even more, however true to his nature, Caster, or rather Geronimo, overcame those emotions to return to his usual impassive demeanour. However, a look of praise formed in his eyes despite this. "… Very good, you figured out my true name. Whilst it changes little, it shows your observation skills are indeed sharp. A trait worthy of a Leader…"

'Alright, then if this is Geronimo, what I know about him SHOULD help me fight him. I may not know of his Noble Phantasm, but what I DO know is that he has three buffing Skills: BLOODSTAINED DEMON, SHAMANISM, and GUARDIAN BEAST. BLOODSTAINED DEMON'S the close combat buff as per mentioned, SHAMANISM is where he connects with the Apache Spirits of old to increase his Mana's effectiveness, and GUARDIAN BEAST serves to summon a Beast which acts as his battle companion.' Noire thought, quickly running through her options via what she knew of the man before her. Of course, Noire didn't know the kind of Noble Phantasm he had since that kind of power came only after his ascension. as a Heroic Spirit, and he hadn't been summoned as a Servant that many times according to the records she had either. That aside, she didn't see too many dangers which she couldn't handle, but for now it would become an uphill battle. Noire would not consider herself a fool, knowing your enemy was only half the battle, even if it helped TREMENDOUSLY.

Even if she lacked the power that she once had back at the peak of Temen-Ni-Gru, Noire would make sure to find a way. Nothing would be truly impossible until one would lay dead on the ground as a corpse, that had been something which Noire had learned early on in her life… a time of her youth which she hardly remembered anymore. Even so, the lessons she learned still struck home even till this day, defining her entire being. That was why, she would ensure that she'd be able to achieve victory no matter what! There would not be any room for failure, not just for herself but for those who put their lives on the line in her name. Her fate wasn't her own, but also that of countless others. Her primary reason for wanting more and more power was precisely for this reason, so she could be a suitable pillar which protected her people from trials such as this one.

As she stood there, making to pull out her Heavy Sword in order to keep fighting, Noire made to continue with the eyes of someone pushed against a corner with a pack of wolves surrounding her. Even though it had been just one enemy remaining, she didn't count on him not summoning any more Demons to reinforce his Territory with then have them attack her, whittling her down with Numbers before finishing her off himself. From what she had learned, it didn't really matter what the Servant felt as it would have to obey the Master's wishes no matter how against their ideals the orders were. Very few ever dared go against them since the Masters seem to act like conduits for them to gather more Mana, their power source.

Therefore, she wouldn't be able to talk Geronimo out of his current actions, even if he wanted to let her go which she doubted.

Therefore, she frantically began searching through her memories, looking for any kind of detail which she had missed, anything which she had mistakenly overlooked or thought of as unimportant at the time. Perhaps she could have a stroke of luck which could help her out in this battle, hopefully, though she didn't hold her breath on this one. Yet, no matter how many times she tried, her searches pointed towards one thing, the one thing which she had not tried yet, but still held way more potential than what her current Dragonblood Form possessed: Devil Trigger.

Not once had she been able to successfully transform using Demonic Power since that time on top of Temen-Ni-Gru. Every time she utilized Demonic Power through her battles so far until she had acquired this Form had been limited, incomplete at best. She'd only barely started using it and she already felt like she had ben getting something wrong, or something had not been there since the very beginning. She didn't get why herself, but it always felt like she had been missing something, something vitally important in learning how to Devil Trigger properly. It really annoyed the life out of her, since it felt so much like being so close to a room filled with treasure, yet that one last step got barred by an impenetrable forcefield. Or getting… what was the word? Oh yeah… ugh, 'blue balled' as some guys sometimes crudely remarked to their mates when they thought nobody would be listening in on them.

But, right now… as much as she felt reluctant to admit it, Noire didn't see many other options. Aside from what Rik had said about it, the amount of power it supposedly had would be considerably superior to the current Dragonblood Form she had, and it wasn't like HDD would be an option for her right now anyways. Even now, as Geronimo pulled back the bowstring with his Arrow being notched, though Noire hadn't seen where it had come from, the blackette hurriedly placed her Heavy Sword in front of herself in a bid of hoping its sheer destructive might would be able to hold. After all, it wasn't anything like the Noble Phantasms both of them commanded, so it should be SOMEWHAT handy, right?

"I see… so you intend to make a Gamble…" The mentioned Heroic Spirit remarked when he figured out her intentions from her actions. Truth be told, he could understand the woman's own frustrations, not like he would say that to his enemy. There would be times when one would be forced to make these kinds of decisions, and while sometimes they would work out, it was all up to luck. Afterwards, despite the result they would have to live with the consequences of their actions, something he himself had personal experience with. "Very well. I shall make it so that you lose and get sent to the spirits in the next world, divine Spirit." He commented, his eyes dipping downwards slightly as he prepped himself to finish the blackette off.

Just as he fully notched the arrow and Noire awaited her chance…

_…Noire. Quick, deactivate your Dragonblood Form!..._

'Eh?! What are you-?!'

Noire tried to say something back to Siegfried when he barked those words through their link, but she decided not to question him right now. The reason? For a moment, one single, BRIEF moment, Noire felt something pulse inside of her, like a faint cry out in the ever-lasting shadows which snuffed it out afterwards. It happened several times afterwards though and as a result Noire quickly became aware of what it would be. Because of her Dragonblood Form, she didn't think that she would be able to achieve anything unless she shifted back into her Human form, exactly as Sigfried had told her too.

Slowly, Noire began taking in deep breaths, her chest rising and failing at a VERY visible rate, though her Heavy Sword shielded it from Geronimo's eyes. 'Alright... i'll do what you say this time...' Noire thought as she closed her eyes, steeling her resolve as if she were sharpening a blade to perfection, the standard she strove for in everything she did. Normally, she wouldn't be so risky with something like this, but right now she had no other option. Too much of her stakes had been placed on the line already, plus she trusted his judgement, so with that in mind she closed her eyes… and then deactivated the Dragonblood Form. It happened as cracks formed over her entire form, including her extra limbs before falling to the ground as dust, forming a pile before it vanished out of existence.

Just as she did so, her heart suddenly thumped loudly within her chest, to the point to where it reached her ears. Her eyes blinked in surprise at this, though they soon became filled with realization when she felt a feeling spewing forth from within... a feeling she had been searching for the location of for a very long time. 'Yes! This is it! Well, no time for hesitation!' she thought, quickly closing her eyes moments later. All the while, her shoulders began to release steam as rising pillars, several small trails of crimson energy arching off her form.

Seeing this, Geronimo arched a brow at the rather odd spec of behaviour, but put it to the back of his mind a second later.

That second however… had been all Noire needed.

**(OST end)**

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Just like the first time it happened, She got enveloped by a crimson shockwave which erupted out of Noire's body like a furious geyser, all whilst she released a mighty war cry that shook the entire room... and the Leviathan by extension. A shockwave which sent the Heroic Spirit sliding across the entire room to end up several steps away from one of the walls. Winds swept from the space she had released the shockwave, forcing the man to quickly cover his eyes with his forearm. 'Ugh… what the…?!' the man wondered in a moment of shock and surprise, though he quickly figured out what had just happened. This wasn't supposed to happen, not for a while anyways, that had been what he had been told. His master had informed him that her power had been damaged and wouldn't rise to its full potential for a while… so when he saw Noire floating there, clad in a new form which caused his very soul to shudder…

Yeah, he nearly lost his composure.

**(Play OST - ****Busou Renkin Victor vs Kazuki Soundtrack)**

Floating before him, was something Geronimo would class as a nightmarish herald of death itself, in contrast to the divinity that he had once sensed course through her, albeit suppressed by the Spell.

Instead of her previous Draconian form, this one looked to be on a more... demonic, sinister spectrum. The woman stood at a grand 5 foot 8, with her body that of a slender, yet dangerously seductive woman: medium length neck, sharp facial features, small shoulders, slim arms, hourglass shaped figure with wide hips, long legs etc. Yet, Geronimo recalled just how dangerous such women could be, so he didn't let himself get entranced by such bewitching beauty. Her hair, once black, now had completely turned into a bloody crimson, flowing down her back in a curly fashion like ocean waves. Several bangs curved around her mature-looking face, framing it along with the two crimson slitted power button symbols within the centre of her abyssal black eyes. From atop her head, two large mechanical bat-like ears protruded out the tip, shaped like a V whilst a mechanical headband wrapped around her forehead. It's center held what looked like a wide open mouth, a single crimson orb clutched within that sported a slitted black pupil.

For her body itself, one could be either entrance, freaking terrified out of their minds, or both. She seemed clad in an all-black, form-fitting bodysuit, with what looked like demonic-looking constructs in the forms of infiltration equipment placed throughout. Her forearms, shoulders and kneecaps each had these slim-looking guards which match their body parts too, the shoulders and kneecaps having long, sharp spikes protruding out. Her hands were covered in some black gloves which had clawed, crimson double edged, serrated nails which looked like they could puncture someone's neck, with her feet being black high heeled, fashionable boots. Behind her back, one could see one pair of small, Bat-like wings... then a SIGNIFICANTLY larger pair coming out her back, all four of these being sharp enough to pretty much cut through full grown trees.

As for her weapon... It seemed that before the transformation, her previous weapon vanished back into her inventory, since in her right hand, there lay a single, large double edged sword which looked just as heavy as the other one did. Not to mention that it had an incomplete circular object attached to its bottom, with leather around its hilt. The blade itself looked much longer than she was tall, with both sides having countless varying sized human faces engraved onto them, all moaning in absolute agony. Both it, and her form constantly surged with a crimson aura, waves of power rippling around her in a wild, ferocious manner which caused the entire beast they resided in to start trembling in absolute fright. Its body constantly racked itself with tremors, groans and moans of terror mixed with whimpers filling the air. However, the womanly Noire paid little attention to this as she looked over to him.

And in that moment, Geronimo swore he felt his heart stop.

For the moment she did, he swore he saw a silhouette of a massive figure hovering behind her, a figure shaped like a muscular humanoid with bat-like features. Even though it had no eyes, he didn't doubt for a SECOND that the creature had been looking at him this whole time, hunger and desire burning from it like he would be nothing but a fine meal for it.

"This form...!" Geronimo whispered, his eyes slightly wide as he quickly swapped his weapons. Bows wouldn't work right now, his instincts told him. He would have to fight this vicious... creature, no longer any Divine Spirit, in front of him with his ideal offence. He wouldn't be able to hold back like he had before either, and if push comes to shove then he would have to use his Noble Phantasm against his Master's warnings. His eyes than narrowed as he held his Spear at the ready, anger and disappointment laced within his tone. "Divine Spirit... I see. So, this is your answer...? To toss away your ideal self for such a flawed, chaotic power which you cannot even control properly?" he asked her, frowning in a stern manner.

At this, Noire looked into his eyes, to which a small upturning of her lips happen which exposed some of her teeth, showing how some had lengthened into fangs thanks to this transformation. "Don't act like you know me." She responded, her voice carrying multiple vocals just like any Devil would. 'So THIS is what talking like a DPU feels like, huh...? interesting...' she thought in her mind, before she continued. "If I have to become a Demon, if I have to give up my divinity in order to achieve the power I need, then so be it." She explained, holding her Sword out in front of her in one hand.

She remembered Rik telling her its name being Chaoseater... she could see why. Seriously, the blade just screamed 'I love causing destryuctiona nd feasting upon my defeated enemies!' to her right now. What with the crimson aura enveloping it as it did with her entire body, as well as with how the sockets of each engraved skull glowing an every demonic colour.

Still, Noire didn't feel anything relating to triggering the Devil inside of her. She wouldn't be foolish enough to think that being a Devil would solve all her problems, nope no sir. If anything, her finally harnessing the powerful Devil Trigger would likely become a catalyst which would draw demonic attention to her land. To her people who only have experience fighting against Abnormals. The few she'd taken to Leanbox may have some experience, but on a whole it couldn't amount to much. Demons had been hurting countless residents of Gamindustri for a long time now, and she'd be stupid not to acknowledge this fact. Not to mention she still held her status as a Goddess with pride, even now.

However, her Divine powers wouldn't be enough anymore. Too many variables were appearing across Gamindustri which she couldn't contend with, Nico being one of them as much as she loathed to admit it. There were far too many powers against her, heck her people didn't completely trust her either so that didn't help things much. Time would be of the essence here, so she couldn't afford to remain idle when she had to regain the people's trust... an issue which wasn't so easily solved sadly. It took time, and that was something she had little of at the moment, so she had no other option. Devil Trigger would help her with her power set up, diversifying her Skillset on the battlefield. She wouldn't want everyone to be like this though, it DID take a certain level of willpower to control this power. A level which ordinary mortals wouldn't be able to achieve no matter how hard they tried. She didn't want to even THINK about what it would be like to have tp put down those who couldn't control the Devils they invite into their bodies, the feelings that would invoke.

With that in mind, she had some unfinished business to attend to...

But she had to take care of one other thing first...

"This form..." Noire mumbled, raising a free hand to her face whilst glancing towards the approaching Geronimo. He tried to slash at her, but Noire raised her Sword arm whilst gazing back at her hand which radiated Demonic Power. When the sword known as Chaoseater met his Spear, both weapons released a shock wave from the force...one which blew Geronimo away like human debris whilst she just remained floating there, cloaked in the Demonic Power she had awakened once more. " So, this is Devil Trigger, huh...?" She remembered the feeling she go whenever she would face off against other Demons, whenever she witnessed Neptune's party member Nico and his DPU Form, before comparing it to the feelings she got from this power.

Clutching her hand into a fist several times (and eyeing the energy sparks which flowed around her hand because of this), Noire gazed at it with a small appreciative smirk. Her eyes shimmered with varying emotions flashing through them like a rapidly speeding old-fashioned video played at a cinema. "... I like it. Still." Her lips curled into a frown as energy fluctuations reached her senses. "This is my first time using it like this, so the link to my power isn't perfect. I'd say I have about 5 minutes..." she mumbled, her eyes shining like two literal calculators whilst reading her energy flow.

A second passed before she remembered how she wasn't alone, having momentarily forgotten this fact before. Turning towards Geronimo, who looked like he had begun activating his BLOODSTAINED DEMON Skill if the crimson flesh adorning his body like the blood of his slain enemies was any indication, Noire nodded her head to herself. "Alright, since this is a new form of mine... I think i'll be able to give it a new name. I think... 'Abyss Heart' to refer to my mostly black appearance should suffice." she muttered, although she didn't feel like the name would be very good it would be better than nothing. She couldn't think of much which could match her naming sense anyways.

With that done, Noire/Abyss Heart, held Chaoseater in her single hand, pointing it at him in a diagonal position as what looked like ripples of air itself manifested around her other arm, ready for combat. Her wings flared behind her, whilst part of her initially felt a bit weird at not having anything resembling a Tail Appendage. Though, that wouldn't be very important in the upcoming carnage. "Alright you, you took me to the cleaner's before... I think i'll return the favor. You won't mind, RIGHT?!"


	19. Chapter 19 - Escaping the Leviathan

**Chapter 19 - Escaping the Leviathan**

**(Play OST – Marvel Vs Capcom Dante Theme)**

So… triggering the Devil inside…

Noire, or rather Abyss Heart, got her first taste of what a TRUE Demonic Power user felt like as she clashed for the 200th time against Geronimo's Spear. The man spent only a second remaining in this deadlock state before he pulled out from his waist a knife which he used to try and slash her neck, but she floated back to avoid it. He then strapped his Spear to his back whilst plucking out another knife to dual wield them, charging at her into engaging in a serious myriad of slash attacks. Attacks which Abyss Heart had little trouble deflecting even whilst holding such a massive Sword like Chaoseater. The blade itself constantly trembled within her grasp, excitement flowing out of it in droves as it easily deflected the things Geronimo threw at her.

All the while, Abyss Heart felt like she had become induced on a drug high multiplied by the thousands, with sheer ecstasy flowing through her being from all the power this Energy provided her.

Yet, despite the highs she felt inside her, Abyss Heart remained focused on the fight at hand, her eyes never leaving her opponent even with the smile of pleasure and bloodlust tugging at her lips. This battle had gone on for what she felt had been 3 minutes so far, just over half the time she had remaining before the Devil Trigger state would revert and she would be back to her human form again. During that time, Abyss Heart paid attention to matters revolving around it whilst focusing on defeating her enemy, making sure to familiarize herself with this form's abilities.

And what abilities they were.

Abyss Heart almost couldn't believe how powerful this Form felt compared to that of her Goddess or Dragonblood Forms. She could easily say that it would be her strongest of forms by far, though not in the same ways as those two. This Devil Trigger seemed to specialize in sound-related powers, as Abyss Heart had discovered how the ripples around her arm had actually been literal sonic waves whish her own energy generated, waves she could launch at her opponent, though that would be the LEAST of what this sound power could do.

For one, this Sound Power had a number of applications to it. This sound power increased her hearing beyond her field of vision, although she hadn't gotten quite a good idea of how far her hearing now could be. Though, because of it she had confirmed that she and Geronimo had been fighting within the heartcore room of the Leviathan, which explained why it had been so heavily defenced compared to the other areas inside the monstrous Demon. It also allowed her to scream really loud, enough to blow Geronimo up into the air despite his attempts to stop this, which made her wonder if this ability could be developed along with other sound-based techniques. Aside from that, she could also feel how the sound waves could be… utilized, in all sorts of mannerisms like empowering her physical attacks, be launched as separate unseen attacks or even as a defensive option. Oh, the possibilities if this power would be trained to develop techniques from would be INSANE.

Other than that, Abyss Heart also discovered a little something else regarding her Devil Trigger. The fact that, thanks to absorbing all those hundreds of Demon Souls through her ascension of the Temen-Ni-Gru, her Devil Trigger had several… support features combined into it, or rather, they manifested through her sword, Chaoseater. The sword manifested over four different elements so far: fire, ice, wind, and lightning which all were used to empower her sword in different ways although she felt like 5 minutes wouldn't be enough time to examine these abilities. Aside from this, with the weight she felt from Chaoseater, she felt like it could be classed as a Heavy Sword, Siegfried commenting on how it rivalled Dragon Fault in sheer weight, giving it quite the physical edge as well.

It seemed that these two forms had their own specialties: Physical prowess belonged solely to her Dragonblood form, whilst Abyss Heart's Devil Trigger would be more of an all-rounder. Makes sense, considering how Demons tend to be versatile little buggers, kind of like the Spec Ops Agents now that she thought about it…

So yeah, all in all… Abyss Heart slowly felt like she had begun to understand why many people would fall to Chaos.

For a chance to have this kind of power…

But, in her eyes, having this power wouldn't be worth selling one's own soul to some deity who wouldn't even give a shit about them. She'd NEVER give up her ideals for anything, they practically represented her as a person, you know! People who did this, selling their souls like that, Abyss Heart would forever call them absolute fools, morons, any kind of word which smacked at their intelligence.

Now she just had to wonder about her HDD Form… what would that be specialized for? How relevant would it become in the future?

Well, that sounded like something she would need to think on for the future, but right now the crimson haired woman had to focus on their fight. Rearing her left arm back, Abyss Heart yelled out an "Hah!" as she thrusted her arm forth in a punch, launching a bunch of soundwaves at her opponent in the form of a spiralling torrent. One which caused the space around it to swerve and sway in a distorted manner. Geronimo rolled out the way of that attack, already having had experience with what would happen if he did otherwise, if the 4-foot-deep long fissure left behind was any helpful hint.

Afterwards, Geronimo leapt towards her, twisting around in mid-air to avoid several sound-based projectiles she'd launched to stop him, before swinging his Spear downwards. Abyss Heart frowned at this, before she swung Chaoseater upwards to deflect the Spear with a loud CLANG! Geronimo however, refused to let this be the end for his current offensive so he quickly followed up with over 1000 stabs of his Spear in a single second, making his arm move so fast that it looked like he had multiple versions of the same limb. As a result, Abyss Heart constantly shifted the angle Chaoseater got positioned at in order to block, parry or deflect them away from her person.

Soundwaves gathered around her blade along with a spiralling vortex of wind, something which Geronimo noticed so he quickly created a platform made from Mana beneath his feet, then used it to kick into a backflip away from her, just as a wind and sound powered slash nearly took one of his legs off. Flipping multiple times through the air to avoid several follow-up thrusts from Abyss Heart, the Heroic Spirit landed gracefully on the ground before reaching into his pants with one hand.

Instead of taking out a porn book like a certain copy ninja would (or anything pervy like any pervy readers may think), he pulled out a few knives instead chuckling them in Abyss Heart's direction. Said Devil Triggered CPU quickly unleashed a wall of sound by swinging Chaoseater in front of her, blocking the attacks in exchange for Geronimo to appear beside her with his Spear poised for a stab towards her side. Quick reflexes saved Abyss Heart from injury though, as she swiftly cut the power flow whilst twisting about in the air, delivering a knee to the back of his neck whilst avoiding the strike altogether. Gripping Chaoseater whilst the man stepped forwards, Abyss Heart brought it in front of her to block a rear-end jab towards her stomach, propelling herself backwards thanks to the force…

For several blades of sound to come down from above.

Geronimo held his hand up as his BLOODSTAINED DEMON Skill deactivated, instead he became covered in the green aura from his SHAMANISM Skill where he chanted something very fast, so Abyss Heart couldn't hear it well, and formed a Magic Circle above his head like how CPUs did with their Panels. 'Guess he can't use the three at the same time, then…' Abyss Heart realized, though she didn't pay it much heed for the time being as she sent a blast of sound out of her free hand, propelling her forwards after her sound blades failed to pierce through that barrier.

Upon Getting close, she swung in a reverse side swing towards his neck, but Geronimo blocked. She pulled her blade back with the momentum and continued her assault using a variety of different slash attacks: cross diagonal slash, vertical up and down slash, scissor slash, thrust, thrust, thrust. Geronimo dodged and parried each attach one with grace, constantly pumping his Mana into his Spear to reinforce it, since it started cracking in a few places under the strain of the much larger sword. After the last thrust, he twisted a full 360 degrees and swung his Spear in a diagonal slash towards the base of her neck, something which Abyss Heart blocked.

**(OST End)**

**(Play OST - Fate/Apocrypha BGM - Battle Theme)**

As both entered another deadlock, Abyss Heart gritted her teeth… until her eyes widened when she felt a warning pulse echo inside her mind. Something which both alarmed her and caused shock to spread through her being. 'Darnit, looks like my 5 minutes is nearly up!' she thought, already feeling her power draining away rapidly. If she couldn't defeat Geronimo soon then she may as well kiss this battle and the thought of victory, along with her goals of protecting Lastation goodbye. 'I had been so focused on enjoying my newfound powers that I didn't take him out quick enough! #SIGH# alright, fine then. Since its come to this, then I guess I can't fool around any longer! I'll just have to finish this in one blow, with everything I have focused into my next attack!' she though, clutching Chaoseater with both hands as she readied her next offensive. As if sensing her worries, Chaoseater sent a surge of confidence into her whilst a chortling came from the depths of the sword, eagerness shining at the thought of being able to sink its metal into flesh clearly evident.

"It seems that you are about to expire, Spirit."

Apparently, Geronimo also picked up on the redhead's situation, though she didn't feel too surprised by this since he WAS a Caster Class Heroic Spirit. It would have been weird for him NOT to have picked up on anything… even so, Abyss Heart levelled a fiery stare at her opponent, not letting his words get to her. With that mentality, she held Chaoseater at the ready, having gotten more than enough familiarity with the blade to adopt the Sword Maiden default stance with it.

Seeing this, Geronimo shook his head, an exasperated yet light sigh escaping his lips. "Tell me, divine spirit, what is it that keeps you using such an abominable power? Why do you throw your status away for such evil?" he questioned her, eyeing Abyss Heart with a level yet vicious stare. "To be a divine being is a great honour. It the goal of countless over the many thousands of years to ascend to this plane of existence. Many a man would throw themselves to their knees before you as you were before, but here you stand, having thrown away something that many would commit countless atrocities to obtain. What is your reason? Do you truly have no pride in what you are? What you are meant to be by the hands of destiny?"

"…Destiny?" Noire repeated after a moment's silence, tasting the almost foreign word on her tongue. The word sounded like it almost came from a different world compared to her own, so much so that it actually caused her a moment of becoming blank, no thoughts passing through her mind whatsoever. However, that moment passed on quickly, to which a surge of emotion erupted inside Abyss Heart's chest as she aimed a vicious glare in Geronimo's direction, the raw scathing intent being enough to cause him to blanch slightly with some of his composure lost. "Please, do not compare me to something as trivial as DESTINY, Geronimo." She spat. "I value power, that is true enough. A while back, I learned just how important it is to have such strength, and why it is needed in the world. I also hold my Goddess status in great pride as well, if you were to look at the four of us who currently rule Gamindustri, then you would find me to be the top in the pinnacle of pride."

Yeah, she remembered that feeling. That feeling of nothing but absolute superiority, the pride she held so dear to her before she went into the console war. That would be one of the few things she could recall from that time period, of ow she had felt she was the only one who would be most fitting to be called a True Goddess. How she had felt she deserved the title more than any of the others, even proclaiming it during her constant clashes with the others back in Celestia. Neptune may have been a majorly arrogant bitch back then, so much so that she would have loved to wring her neck more than a few times in the past, but when she thought about it Abyss Heart realized her human and Goddess Self weren't that much better.

It had only been the whole ongoing Avenir situation which served as on major reality check for her.

Something which caused her gaze to steel itself once more after softening for a second or two. "However, things changed. Being a Goddess isn't as important to me anymore, its nothing compared to my drive to protect my Nation. A Nation I abandoned for prideful, selfish reasons. For them, should it become necessary to become the complete opposite of what I am, then so be it. I'll do it, I'll do anything to make it up to my Nation for my long absence. That is the difference between me and a Demon, you got that?! They strive to gain power to destroy! I strive to become the absolute protector of Lastation!" she bellowed, pointing Chaoseater at her opponent with a burning resolve in her demonic eyes.

_…__Looks like your personality hasn't changed all that much since activating your Devil Trigger, Noire, or perhaps I too will call you Abyss Heart in this form. You seem much more goal-oriented and forthright with your intentions, though. Not like the classic 'tsunderes' as people call your type in this era…_

If Abyss Heart had been in her human form, she would have vehemently denied this observation Siegfried had demonstrated, but right now her current form didn't deny any of it. 'What do you expect? Not like being dishonest with myself will help in any situation…' she retorted, before focusing her gaze back on Geronimo. The said man looked to remain silent at her proclamation, looking downwards so she couldn't see his eyes. 'Whilst you're here, I must ask: how long before the Devil Trigger deactivates?'

_… __You have about a minute in total, Abyss Heart. Afterwards, you may feel some fatigue, but nothing which will hamper your combat prowess…_

"… I see…" Geronimo speaking broke the redhead woman out of her conversation with her Heroic Spirit, her eyes shooting back towards him after slanting downwards slightly in order for her to see him having raised his head to look at her. Initially, his lips had been nothing but a flat line, a complete blank before her as he stared into her eyes. Abyss Heart simply stared back, unflinching and eyes burning with resolve and determination not to take back her stance on this matter. At that moment however, his lips curved upwards slightly and a look of relief formed on his face. "Very well, then. Whilst I do not condone it, I can see that you are set on your path and have good intentions at heart. That alone, is something which not many can boast, along with how you have changed little through this transformation." He stated, catching Abyss Heart by surprise.

Before she could say anything though, his face turned stone serious, his Grip on his Spear tightening as he spoke in a deeper, stern voice similar to a parent lecturing a child on life lessons. "However, be wary, divine Spirit. For the road to hell is always paved with good intentions. Keep your heart in the right place, and do not lose yourself to the devil inside. Doing so will bode ill not only for yourself, but for everything you strive to protect." During his speech, Abyss Heart almost wondered if he spoke more from personal experience than just offering advice. Knowing the legend he had made in Leanbox, she recalled how he had acted, and wondered if at some point, he had also experienced moments where he could have potentially slipped into something else. Become something he never wanted to be in the first place.

Regardless, his words made Abyss Heart nod her head in acceptance, knowing just how truthful his words had been. She too knew the risks of using Demonic Power like this, and whilst she hadn't done so through something like the Demonic Ascension Ceremony (something which she had learned about whilst staying in Leanbox when a Chaos Champion who fought against her one day bragged about it like a moron), she didn't see this as reason not to be cautious. The Devil required strong willpower to control, something which would be a constant. Should she show weakness in this form, she could end up losing herself, not very good when one thought about it.

"Good. Now, let us settle this with one last attack." Geronimo said, his eyes starting to gain an ethereal green glow to them. Not to mention, below his feet a ring made from energy of a similar colour began to form. It spread all around him, creating a circle of flames which illuminated the room whilst filling it with a large power surge. It also shone bright enough that it cast shadows across Geronimo's face, his hair bristling from the winds that it generated. This quickly made her realize that the man had begun doing something he hadn't done in this whole battle, heck it would be something she didn't recall Okada doing back then either: Activate his Noble Phantasm, as evident when she began noticing a vague silhouette beginning to manifest behind him. "With this attack, the fate of this battle shall be decided in one moment. Come at me with all the power you can amass, Divine Spirit, otherwise you will not emerge as the victor." He stated, the silhouette starting to take a solid shape.

This caused Abyss Heart to nod, her lips tightening into a firm line as Chaoseater got raised above her head… pretty much like what she did for an overhead slash when activating her Noble Phantasm. There was no need to say anything else, all they would need to settle this would be their weapons, just like battles between great heroes of old. As such, Abyss Heart began to concentrate and gather all the Demonic Power she had remaining into Chaoseater, forcefully pumping it into her sword like she would for Balmung. As a result, the entire blade began to emit a 'WRYYYYYYYYYYYYY!' like sound whilst all its sockets shone a bright red. The entire blade became enveloped in a black and red aura as well, one which began rising upwards like a geyser.

Both fighters stood rooted in their spots, their large attacks primed and ready for combat. Chaoseater aura now looked more like a tall flame, wildly and violently surging through the air above her head and blowing her hair backwards, making it constantly flutter from the generated winds. Plus, other elements of similar colour shot out to the surroundings such as ice shards, Lightning Bolts, whipping Winds, blades of sound and wisps of Flames. On the other side, Geronimo's Noble Phantasm fully manifested, forming a massive canine which Abyss Heart recognized as a Cayote, above his head. Seeing it, she recalled how at some point it had stolen the sun's tobacco, which became more relevant the following second. This Cayote held its head up high, howling as if taunting something as a large sun-like object appeared above them. The Cayote howled once more, getting onto all fours whilst the sun prepared to try an incinerate it from existence… though, Abyss Heart held no illusions that this would truly be the case.

One moment the two sides remained like this…

The next, they clashed.

* * *

Outside…

Just floating around the dominating Temen-Ni-Gru, the Leviathan had been simply doing as a certain red hat, coat wearing abridged Vampire would say minding its OWN business. That would have been when all of a sudden, it's eyes widened when a huge, as in HUGE explosion of energy roared from behind it whilst its black exploded into many gory chunks… right where its heart had been. The massive beast reared its head back and roared a dying roar up to Celestia above it, a roar which faded into silence as the life left its eyes. Afterwards, the whole creature began to descend down to the ground below, as if it were an aircraft which had been shot down from the skies by anti-air ordinance.

Down below, after leaving a door to head outside the Temen-Ni-Gru, Lid cautiously stepped forth with a pair of Pistols in both hands whilst she kept an eye out for any enemy ambushes. She'd been navigating through this darn labyrinth of a Tower for a while now, with little to no end in sight. Not even her Heroic Spirit could help her get through the dozens of puzzles and traps unscathed, and she had to rest more than a few times to recover her strength… whilst getting periodically ambushed by Demons. Then, to make matters worse she had lost contact with Noire, whenever she tried to contact her she had been unable to reach her, instead getting only static on her side of the line. Lid feared the worst had happened on her side, but she dared not try to confirm it, not just yet. CPU or not, she still had a job to do, and goddamnit she would do it!

'Looks like I'm outside again…' the silver haired Agent thought to herself, frowning as frustration welled up inside her chest. Seconds later it boiled over as she released a snarl out of her lips. "Damnit, what the hell?! Why the fuck can't I get anywhere in this damn place?! Its almost like its trying to stop me from going any further, or something" she growled under her breath, until her eyes widened and a spark of realization lit up inside her brain. "Wait… could it be possible? Could there be someone actively controlling this Temen-Ni-Gru or whatever externally? If I think about it that way, then it could be possible… that could explain why I'm unable to make it further into the Tower itself. If I could find the source, interrogate it in how to get further in, then maybe I could track down Arkham. I bet he's already gone quite deep with whoever it is that's helping him, I'll have to act quickly… even better though, if I could just figure out more of the Tower's puzzles, I could probably go straight to him, but there's so many in there that its impossible for me to keep track of them all…"

Whilst she muttered under her breath like a student droning on at a university, Lid suddenly saw an enlarging shadow up ahead, something which caused her great alarm. "Huh?! What?!" she exclaimed, before her gaze shot up to allow her to see the source being the Leviathan which had been floating about the Tower like some sort of Guardian. However, she sensed no life from the creature at this moment so when it crashed onto the ground it caused a huge tremor to rock the entire city, even trembling the entire demon Tower alongside shaking the areas the remaining occupants resided in.

By the time the tremor stopped, Lid felt there being no more winds or dust potentially inhibiting her vision, so she lowered her arm and gazed upon the colossal beast. Her jaw automatically fell to the ground when she did, a look of awe flowing onto her face whilst she hazed up at it. "Whoa… I always felt it had been a big beast before when I viewed it from afar, but to see it up close…" she mumbled, breath taken from her as she stepped forwards. Though, she kept her caution-riddled demeanour as she advanced, not wanting to get caught off guard by whatever could have bested such a creature. Slowly, she stepped closer and closer to the carcass, keeping her Pistols levelled as she eyed it for any signs of faking this apparent death state.

Just after the fifth step, Lid suddenly perceived some shifting in its eyeball, something which quickly caused her to step ack and raise her guns towards it. Her lone visible eye quickly hardened into a steeled gaze whilst doing so as the eyeball, as crimson and hollow as a red mirror, shifted and contorted unnaturally. Almost like something was hitting it from the inside out. Lid didn't get a chance to wonder what that could have been though since something from behind the eye itself sliced right through it, creating a vertical hole through it and allowing some kind of black and red blur to leap out through the air.

Lid withheld the urge to gasp as she saw it fly overhead, then slam into the ground behind her, not 8 feet away from her position. The crimson thing, when she managed to get a good look at it, seemed to resemble a human of sorts, though she wasn't sure since there were locks of black clinging to the humanoid's skin. She got the impression that it was female though, judging by the curves and slender figure that it sported, but Lid wasn't sure. She did smell the copious amounts of blood clinging to her form and would have covered her nose from the heavy smell of iron in the air, but Lid had long since gotten used to such a smell. Even so, she still cringed at the massive concentration of it coming from how much clung to the being's frame.

The humanoid thing kneeled there for a brief second, sounds of heavy breathing releasing themselves from the thing before it slowly got to its feet, using something in its hand as a support by stabbing the ground with it. That was when she got a good look at that something, which quickly made her come to realize what it was…

A sword…

Not just any, but a High Frequency Sword.

'What the….?! Wait… could it be…?! Th-There's only one person I know of who has such a sword in her possession, aside from Raiden who's in Leanbox still and any Cyborgs who would be affected by this Spell…'

Thoughts like that circulated through Lid's mind as she stood there, completely unable to do anything whilst the humanoid woman (yeah, she could confirm that), apparently naked, looked down at her self with her arms raised, mitting grossed out sounds at the sight. "Ewww, Demon blood…! This feels gross on so many levels…! I knew this would have been a bad idea, Siegfried… but you STILL had me do this anyways…!" The humanoid being complained seemingly to herself, apparently not knowing that Lid stood right behind her wondering what the hell was going on.

However, one thing did get confirmed in her mind thanks to this:

That this was the CPU of Lastation Noire alright.

* * *

'Covered in blood from head to toe was NOT what I wanted as an answer to my clothing problem…! Oh, what a day…!' Noire whined with teardrops in the corners of her eyes. She tried to fling some of the blood off her body, but she had so much on her right now that it would have been practically useless. 'This is even worse when I first lost to Neptune back in West Wind Valley! Couldn't we have gone through the opening on the back of that beast we made before, Siegfried…?' she asked her Heroic Spirit, the one who suggested to her (although it actually came from her Appetite Demon though him since it couldn't talk to her like Siegfried could)

_…__Of course. After all, if you had left through the exit on its back in that extreme state of grogginess, you had been in, you would have been unable to make it out in time, and thus be crushed by the Leviathan's weight. It was safer for you to remain inside… Not to mention that you have successfully absorbed the Leviathan's Soul, which has done quite the wonder for you. However, you may wish to focus ahead of yourself…_

At first, Noire wondered what Siegfried had been talking about in the middle of all her frustrated embarrassment and disgust for her recent actions, but then when she looked towards her front, she noticed exactly what he meant. In front of her, floating before Noire but barely even visible anymore, looked to be Geronimo… or rather… "A Ghost? No, this feels more like a remnant…" the Blackette theorized as she faced towards it, oblivious to the onlooking confused Lid.

When she had finished speaking, the remnants of Geronimo nodded his head in that ever-impassive expression of his. Seriously, did that guy even possess the ability to show any other expressions? Though, for some reason Noire felt a bit hypocritical when she thought that. "Noire… congratulations. You succeeded in defeating me. This is as you think, only remnants of Mana I was able to set aside before I vanish completely. There is not much time left for me, so I will be quick. Since you have proven the victor, I shall impart onto you three pieces of information, information I am aware you greatly desire."

Information? Well, that sounded handy, didn't it? Noire definitely wanted more info on the overall situation, so if Geronimo would be willing to give that up in his final moments, she wouldn't be complaining. The man then spoke once more when he saw she had given him her undivided attention. "As you may have summarized, I am indeed the Caster which put the Spell over the city, a Spell my Master ordered me to. Because of the Leviathan, I had access to large quantities of Mana, which allowed me to use the Spell to such an extent. However, because of that, even in my death the Spell shall remain active for over 6 hours. Once those hours pass, it will reverse itself, and everyone shall wake up like nothing had ever happened."

Hearing THAT piece of info, Noire's eyes hardened as she gave a stiff nod, though her eyes betrayed the amount of approval which bloomed within her chest at knowing her people would be okay. 6 hours sounded like MORE than enough time for her to get a handle on the situation, but then again, she hadn't completely explored the Temen-Ni-Gu just yet, so she may have to reconsider depending on the situation's further developments.

"You must be wary, however."

Just then, Geronimo spoke once more as cracks started spreading across his body, pretty much confirming to them both that his time would be running out shortly. "There are great trials awaiting you, I sense. Trials set forth by my master and his Companion, thus you must be constantly vigilant. Destiny appears to be set against you, the world of Demons seeks to consume you, the spirits of heaven may have forsaken you, but you MUST push on. Whenever you get the chance, take tests, gain more items, train and get stronger. That power may be what saves you from impending peril." By the time the Heroic Spirit finished what he had wanted to say, the last of his corporeal form vanished into the breeze, an echoing farewell filling her surroundings as Noire stood there…

More than a little worried about what his words implied.

'He didn't say the name of his Master… looks like he may have been bound not to by him so his identity would remain hidden. I'll have to ponder who that master might be another time; tough I strongly believe it to be that Vicious character. For now, I should probably head back inside, see if I can find anything worthwhile…' Noire thought to herself, making to step forwards… When her senses informed her of a presence behind her.

'Huh?'

Turning around (her caution levels low since she didn't sense any killing intent), Noire came face to face with… Lid, who just looked at her with a mix of irritation and confusion… then she turned her head away to hide the redness forming on her features. "L-Lid? What are you doing here?" Noire questioned, hiding the elation she felt inside for being able to see a friendly face after so many disgusting things have happened. After all, showing such things towards one of her citizens would tarnish her reputation as a confident, strong Goddess.

"I-I should be the one ashing-asking! Asking YOU that!" Lid stammered, her embarrassment such that she had involuntarily achieved her mispronunciation tick. 'Goddamnit, I thought I had been done with hat at this point!' she screamed in her mind, but nonetheless continued. "I-I've been trying and trying to get into contact with you, but nothing happened! Wh-Where were you?!" she yelled, making the mistake of looking back at Noire before quickly pulling her gaze away again. "Also, wha-what happened to your clothes?!"

Blinking, Noire wondered what the heck Lid just screamed about, as well as wondered about her behaviour just now. Why was Lid looking so embarrassed for? This wasn't exactly how she acted the first time they met, in fact it looked like the complete opposite in how Lid seemed to barely tolerate her under a thin veil of masked respect. Just then, Noire felt a soft breeze brush past her skin, causing shudders to travel down her spine. 'Whew, now this is a chilly wind, almost makes me think that… wait a minute…' Slowly, something dawned on her as she gradually shifted her gaze downwards, only NOW coming face to face with the sight of herself covered in blood but also in her birthday suit, something she had neglected to notice in favour of the other thing.

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

… Finally, it clicked in her mind, and her face turned cherry red… this time, not because of the external blood.

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

A loud scream tore through the entire city, nearly resembling a high tier earthquake considering as Noire screamed like a banshee. All the while, she fell into a crouching position and tried her best to cover herself, even though that may have been a wasted piece of effort at this point. "What the hell?! Why the heck am I naked?!" she shrieked into the air, though Lid felt she wasn't saying that to anybody in particular.

"H-How should-should I know?! I-I'm not the one void of cloths-clothes!" the said Agent yelled back in a flustered manner, stammering and misspelling her words more and more often to her internal annoyance, although she couldn't help it this time around. Normally, she wouldn't be like this, she would have been more composed and rational like a true soldier would, but all the stress and frustration she had felt, coupled with this new and bizarre situation, had pretty much rattled her mind down to its foundations. When she'd first met her homeland's CPU before, she didn't expect something like THIS to happen, nope not in a million years! She never wanted to see another girl naked like this! She didn't even see her fellow agents naked whenever they went to the changing rooms back at bases and such. She had much preferred solitude for that kind of activity.

After a few seconds of being flustered, to the point where both girls just wanted to find an answer to this problem, Lid finally recalled something which could have the potential needed to do so. "H-Hold on, I might have something…!" Quickly rummaging through her Inventory, Lid tried to see if she still had what she thought she did, seconds later her eyes widening in joy and relief indicating some success. "Aha! Yes!" She bellowed in triumph, pulling out from her Inventory… an alternate Outfit, neatly piled up on top of one another before she tossed them to Noire, who caught them in one palm. "Take that and get changed somewhere where I can's see! Those came from a Mission I did for Leanbox one time, so they'll have to do. Keep them if you wish, they aren't suited for a soldier like me."

Noire nodded at this, mentally thanking Lid over 1000 times a second, before she began to change into the outfit she had been given, not even pausing to check what it was.

* * *

A moment or two later, a mostly bloodless Noire, who had shook off most the blood save for some bits, patted herself down in relief, a matching sigh escaping her lips. The feel of clothing on her skin felt like a HUGE relief to her. "Whew… now THAT's something I never want to go through ever again…" she mumbled under her breath. "At least it was a fellow girl who saw me this time…. Not like that time when I got most my clothes damaged by that Narugacuga…" the thought of that panther-like beast sent waves of feminine fury through her system, especially at what Neptune had been like back then.

Shaking her head, Noire looked down to her new outfit and, she had to say, it looked... quite similar yet different to her original outfit. The outfit consisted of a dark colored blackish purple colored coat with golden outlines. The coat came with these large sleeves with slim wrist cuffs, whilst the coat curved around her torso and covered the tips of her chest, exposing a decent amount. The coat connected at the center through some golden lacing then it split like V down to her thighs, exposing a crimson skirt with white frills. Around the waist section, there were these white bands which ended in arrow-like tips. The coat's collar had one of those fancy white broaches around her neck, with a crimson jewel lodged into the centre. The shoulders even had white decorations similar to ones won in wars on them, whilst the right sleeve had an elbow and forearm guard over it, matched by a gauntlet over the hand. The coat had several heart-like ornaments hanging down from the bottom, whilst her legs remained covered in black stockings supported by garters, her knees being encased in white greeves which ended in knight-like feet.

In short, it felt quite nice to her.

"Huh... not bad..." The blackette murmured as she held her left arm up to examine it, then did the same with her right. Whilst she didn't see any Ribbons in this getup, she could deal with that for the time being, since her hair tended to get wild anyways even if she replaced the destroyed ribbons. A pleased smile formed on her lips the more she looked it over, whilst not her original outfit, she did like how classy this one made her look. What could she say, she always considered herself a classy girl, just look at what she wore on a daily basis. The outfit actually made her think of it like a combination of Lastation and Leanbox, if Ashbringer wasn't enough of a gift from that Nation already. "Whats the story behind this outfit, Lid?" she queried, and whilst she would have stayed on topic regarding the massive Demon Tower behind them, the blackette liked this outfit a LOT.

Pleased that her CPU liked it, the Agent gave a proud smile as she held her head up high. "I got them when I was tasked with an escort mission one time in Leanbox. The client had been a Nobleman, and when the mission was over alongside the reward he gave me that getup." Lid replied, before wincing in distaste. "Lets just say he looked at me funny when I took it, his face telling me everything like he didn't even bother to hide the perverse thoughts he had, ones revolving on seeing me in it." Shuddering, Lid shook her head to disperse the memories. She then continued once recalling a certain feature about that getup. "One thing he DID say which caught my attention, was that it cold-could Could! Anyways, that jewel there can regenerate the outfit should it be damaged, so if you ed up getting your clothes damaged just send energy into it and it'll do the rest."

Now THAT sounded more like something Neptune would describe as 'plot convenient' Noire felt, but hey she wouldn't be complaining about self repairing clothes, especially if she would shift in and out of her Dragonblood Form or her Devil Trigger. A pleased hum escaped her lips when she heard this, a nod of approval following. "Nice, now that will help me a lot. Thanks Lid, I really mean it." she responded, aiming a sincere smile in the Agent's way. After everything she had experienced so far, she definitely appreciated what the Agent had done for her, even if she still held some form of distrust for her.

"I-Its of no consequence on my part, B-Black Heart. In any case..."

Just then, Lid's eye sharpened like blades, all the while Noire's did the same when she, out of pure reflex, pulled out Luce and Ombra from the hidden holsters beneath her skirt, pointing Luce beside Lid's head to shoot an approaching Hell Pride. Looks like Lid had the same idea, if the bullet whizzing past her head and the inhuman screeches she heard behind her were anything to go by.

Both of them moved in unison, standing back to back with their individual weapons raised, lead exploding out of them into their surroundings which gradually got filled with the unearthly cries, frenzied shrieks, and vicious growls belonging to the Demons which coveted around their vicinity. Likely, the blood of the Leviathan had been a major beacon for them, practically screaming 'yummy flesh is here! come, eat me!' to their primitive instincts.

All the while, Lid and Noire entered a conversation whilst blasting away Demons' heads off.

"So, Lid, has the situation changed much since I went under?"

"Negative Lady Black Heart, the Tower's still as much a maze as ever. Its almost like I'm being forced to retreat to an area I've already been to."

"That's probably the cause of a powerful Demon, if I were to guess. Demons are a variety-based breed."

"My thoughts align with yours, my Lady. However, I haven't been able to locate the Demon responsible for this. Its not like the puzzles this Tower throws at me help either."

"I see..."

Inside her mind, Noire tried to sense any remaining powerful Demonic Energies, similar in strength tot he 'boss' type Demons which she had been facing in previous battles. Similar to the Cerberus, Gigapede, the satanic Treasures Agni and Rudra, even the Leviathan. Demons whose Souls have already been consumed by her Appetite Demon (which was the source of her absorbing souls through Balmung). Eventually, about 3 seconds in, her mind managed to brush against the presence of a powerful surge of electrical demonic power, one located down in the depths of the Tower. 'That sounds like a good place to start as any.' she thought to herself, frowning as she shot a Hell Lust as it charged at her.

"Lid, I need you to trust me, but I have an idea as to where the Demon could be."

"You sure?"

"Positive."

"Then you go on ahead, I'll handle things on this end! Feels like the Demon's too powerful for me to get close enough to shove a knife into it anyways."

When Lid suggested that as she gunned down a bunch of Hell Greeds before they could do their thing, Noire's lips pursed together. She didn't like the thought of leaving Lid alone out here, but judging by the look in her eyes it seemed like Lid would be just as stubborn about this as she would have been. "You confident you can handle things out here?"

"Affirmative Lady Black Heart. I didn't survive this long against them for nothing, you know."

"...Alright, I'll leave these guys in your care then." Eventually, Noire let the matter slide into Lid's hands, flipping through the air after jumping and landing at the base of an entrance. One which had a 'Welcome' with an arrow beneath it written into one of the support pyres with blood... as well as a smiling clown face. 'Jester...' Noire thought, frowning in annoyance. Still, it meant she would be going in the right direction at least, plus the words Geronimo said to her before he vanished rang through her mind, reminding her of the remaining secrets hidden within this Tower.

Stepping forwards, Noire opened the entrance up and stepped inside the Temen-Ni-Gru, all set for round two.

* * *

**Chapter end!**

**Alright, next chapter complete!**

**Bit short, but there's still a lot to go over, so pay attention. **

**In this one, we have some of the details regarding the Devil Trigger Noire possesses. The main specialty for this Devil Trigger is sound, which I chose because Noire likes to be bossy and as such, I can see her being somewhat of a loud shouter. Albeit more reserved than Blanc, since Blanc's the berserker of the group. Also, by sound abilities, i'm talking about similar abilities to Zebra from Toriko, heck the silhouette of the mutated Appetite Demon she has is the one that he possessed with his Gourmet cells, only it has mutated to devour souls instead, getting stronger for them and making the path towards a higher level for her to follow. There will be secondary elements belonging to lightning, ice, fire and wind, but those will likely be more towards either enhancement, defense or both, with sound occupying the offense role. This way, Noire can cover more of her bases on the battlefield, but these powers will ONLY work once she is in her Devil Trigger. Outside of some simple Demonic Energy/Power manipulation, she has little access to these powers. This accounts to the versatility belonging to the Demons, as well as the trend of having various skills in one's arsenal to survive for longer time periods in this world.**

**In comparison to other abilities though, the Devil Trigger actually loses out in the physical ability department to her Dragonblood Form, which will make sense later on. For now, the Dragonblood Form is going to be treated like her Drive Skill equivalent, whereas Neptune has her Planeptune version, this will be Noire's alternative. If any think it would make sense the other way around, then i'll say this: that Noire is indeed trying to be a better leader and cares deeply for her Nation, however i'm focusing this on the side of her which gets real pissed off whenever her Nation is threatened. Dragons love their treasures, its been the case since the very first tale of them, so in Noire's case, Lastation IS her treasure. Its even seen in the games that Noire, whilst she does try to keep a good image, she does react quite negatively when her people are in danger, more so than the other CPUs in comparison. ****Neptune on the other hand, is more of a free spirit, one which is mildly tamed by the time Rebirth 2 comes about but its still there in the form of her slacking off to be lazy. The Planeptune Drive Skill is almost symbolic in that by having it, she's aware of her CPU title in some manner, but that's about it. She doesn't let it tell her what to do, she just does her own thing. Only when Pleneptune really needs her will she act (which is why having Histoire and Nepgear around in future titles is what saves the Nation anyways)**

**Getting back on track, here's the rundown:**

**Devil Trigger: Demonic Power manipulation, elemental manipulation (Thunder, Wind, Fire and Ice), Sound Manipulation**

**Dragonblood Form: Heavy Sword usage, Physical ability amplifier. **

**Don't worry about her HDD Goddess form though, it will return eventually. I have plans revolving around it, but for the time being its one of the weakest forms she has, not to mention with the Spell in place still and her close proximity to the Temen-Ni-Gru, she cannot access it at all. A weaker form which she can't even use, that is its current status. That won't remain so forever, but for now that will be the case. Once things go down however, Noire's HDD Form returning will SURELY put it on a similar tier to her Devil Trigger, of THAT I can promise you.**

**Aside from her, we see what Lid's been up to during these last few chapters, exploring the Temen-Ni-Gru in search of Arkham. Though, as you have seen its not exactly going so great thanks to some kind of Demon which has been keeping her from advancing too far into the Tower itself, where that man and Vicious are located. If you've played the Devil May Cry game i'm using as inspiration for this story, then you know which Demon i'm referencing here. Before the Demons were just there as Bosses, with Cerberus being the Ice Guardian whilst Agni, Rudra and the Gigapede were of similar stature. **

**In this case however, this Demon will be somewhat different from that, as she will be someone who can influence various factors when concerning Noire somewhat instead of being just another stepping stone. A stone who will leave a bigger impact, to be sure. **

**When I played this Devil May Cry Game, I noticed how even in the game, this Demon seemed different from the others, actually showing how she had connections, as weak as they were, to the MC's papa, not to mention the slight positive connection to the MC himself. In this way, I found her much unlike the previous Demons, and more like another one in the main series. I'm still undecided on what to do with that one though, since I've used him as inspiration for a Devil Arm belonging to a certain someone already. Look through the Hellverse Arc and you'll get a better idea of who I'm talking about. But yeah, I liked how some of the bosses actually had the hidden purpose of nudging the MC towards fully embracing his father's legacy after a certain confrontation.**

**As for Geronimo, despite his warrior-type backstory, I felt like him being the Caster Servant keeping the Spell active from inside the Leviathan was a decent choice on my part. For one, it explains why the Leviathan was able to trounce Noire before, as well as got foreshadowed when they sensed the presence of such a Heroic Spirit but couldn't pinpoint it. Though, when looking at his Legend, it seems like he wouldn't like the Master he is contracted to, and as such before he dies, he gives Noire a few bones for her to use to build a solid strategy against him, now all she has to do is the strategize part. Pretty simple yet not so for her, huh?**

**Oh yeah, if you want a better picture of Noire's new regenerating outfit, look up Eris from Berserker of Gluttony. You'll see how it could fit her with its classy, nobility-esque design, something which fits Noire to a T if you ask me. **

**So yeah, a lot of content to go over in this chapter, just like the others. If you have questions, let me know in the reviews or PMs, this story needs more love honestly. Though I'm happy people are actually reading it and not skipping it like what I had initially expected. **

**Anyways, look forward to the next chapter!**

**Peace Out!**


	20. Chapter 20 - Temen-Ni-Gru R2

**Chapter 20 - Temen-Ni-Gru R2**

Entering through and closing the door behind her, Noire stepped forth on her new path. A path which took her to the front of a golden door. One which she had just passed through, prompting her to sweat drop. 'Egh, dastardly on the outside but nice on the interior? Must think that intruders would want to get out quicker than they would want to get inside…' she thought to herself, furrowing her brow whilst turning her head to look at her new surroundings.

Before her, there stood what looked like a long bridge shaped like some form of walkway, with a tall fence on each side to stop people from falling down into the depths below. Siegfried had already told her there was no killing Array down there, unlike before, so this would be the first time she'd seen any semblance of safety precautions in this damned Tower. The thought made her scoff, before looking around to see that there were two more doors to the left side, both of them being closed off by fences with a similar walkway connecting them. Above her, she saw a large angelic statue, which according to her previous experiences, told Noire that this thing would be quite important later on.

'Hmmm… judging by what I'm seeing here, I guess I'll be making several return trips here in order to explore the tower completely…' Noire thought as she pondered, before trying to reach for the source of the Demonic Power she had sensed. 'I can sense that the Demon I'm after is not on either of them though, so I'll just ignore them for now…' she thought nodding to herself in assurance before walking along the first walkway to the other side.

Whilst doing so, she couldn't help but wonder on why someone like Lid, who had been contracted and bonded with a Heroic Spirit of the Assassin Class, would find it so hard to locate one Demon. 'Its strange, for someone like her, she shouldn't have this kind of trouble locating one Demon…' she mused mentally, confusion and concern shining in her eyes at the possible implications of this. Was it because it knew her type of Heroic Spirit and thus pulled more stops to prevent her from entering deeper and finishing it off? Or was it similar to Cerberus in it believing Lid to not be fit for the depths of this place? 'Demons do seem to hold themselves innately superior to humans, they don't even care to see what kind of species their opponents belong to…' Noire thought, irritation seeping into her chest whilst her eyebrows furrowed in a matching emotion. 'With the way the DPUs have supposedly been in slaughtering any species they fought against, and the Demons seeing them as their gods, I'm not that surprised…'

With what she had skimmed through during her stay at the Divine Library, she had learned of how in the DPU Era those Godly beings of demonic, carnage-focused Nature may as well have been a blight to any species they encountered, fighting and fighting without end and slaughtering a countless amount of creatures. She could only imagine the piles of corpses an average DPU would make, let alone the superior ones like the original four. One book had even stated that DPUs were 'born from the carnage from the conflict between light and darkness' which, whilst sounding utterly ridiculous to her, when she pondered on it some more she realized that it could make a disturbing amount of sense.

Now that she thought about it, as she walked over the walkway Noire couldn't help but feel like something was watching her from the shadows, causing her to glance about to try and see if anything was really there. However, whenever she did so, Noire felt whatever had been watching her vanish suddenly, making her frown all the more. 'Looks like I know how the Demon's been aware of Lid's presence and movements then…' she murmured mentally. 'And apparently, its good at hiding its minions so nobody can see them, if they can sneak up and manipulate someone bonded with an Assassin Type Heroic Spirit, then they can't be underestimated… I better keep up my guard lest I get blindsided by a surprise ambush…'

Finally, she pulled herself out of her thoughts when she had reached the other side, coming to a short yet narrow stone corridor, with another door located at the end and at the right side. There wasn't any sign of Demon ambushes, but Noire would always be the cautious one in this damned Tower. Nothing was ever truly as it seemed, a lesson she had to learn the hard way more than once. Pausing her stride, Noire waited for a few moments, eyeing every nook and cranny she could see within the corridor in case there were any surprise ambushes lying in wait for her, before she continued forth after about 5 minutes. The clanking of her Greeves against chainmail-like metal filled the air as she walked, making her look down at her outfit once more.

At this, a girlish giggle escaped her throat as Noire nearly lost it to her instincts and do a girly twirl like she would whenever she got a chance to have some her time after a hard day's work. 'I must say, Lid truly knows how to gift me with good outfits, I really like this one.' She squealed happily, holding her arms up to look it over once again. 'This really suits me! Best thing, it repairs itself when damaged, so I don't have to worry about being naked after turning into my Dragonblood Form! Yoo hoo!' she whooped with joy, so much so that she remained unable to stop the slight skip in her steps.

Eventually, she reached the end of the corridor and found the door to the next area. She stood before it, her smile still present on her features as she opened it and stepped inside…

Only, when she did step into the next area, her smile IMMEDIATELY vanished right afterwards, her face paling worse than she would whenever someone knocked over a stack of finished paperwork from her desk all over the floor, the stack as big as she would be…. In Devil Trigger. Her form literally froze as if winds from Lowee had engulfed her naked flesh at minus 1000 degrees Celsius, whilst disgusting feelings swelled within her stomach.

The reason why?

Noire found herself in a room infested with sider webbing. The floor itself wasn't that bac, and the room itself had a large walkway which filled half of it to the door with a multi coloured circle made from jewels on the opposite side. However, beside that floor, was an abyss… one which had been used to create a huge, and by that we mean seriously HUGE, masses of spider webbing. It looked like various limbs belonging to whole corpses still hung out from the webbing, utterly sucked dry and having long since turned grey from their death. Pretty much explained that they had been here for a long time, WAY longer than it would have been if her citizens had been taken in here.

"Ewwww! Ew-Ew-Ew-Ew-Ew-Ew! Ewwwwwwwwwww! Gross me out, gross, gross, so much gross!"

… Yeah. Nothing else to say here.

_… __Noire, calm yourself! You can't make sound decisions screaming like a little child!..._

'E-Easy for you to say! Your not the one who has to deal with the thoughts of these mangy bugs! I hate spiders, I hate them, I hate them, I hate them! They're creepy, they crawl about and scuttle like madmen! They're ugly and gross and all sorts of icky!'

_… __No, I will not tell her that…_

'Wh-What was it? Speak!'

_… __Very well. It appears that Rik here is jesting-yes you are-in saying how these Spiders will likely love to have goddess blood for dinner…_

'… Don't lose your cool, Noire, maintain your image, maintain your image, this is just Rik being an ass…'

SCREECH, SCREECH, SCREECH, SCREECH, SCREECH, SCREECH, SCREECH, SCREECH, SCREECH!

… Was it just her, or did she hear the bells of death tolling just now? Whilst Noire had her internal panic attack at seeing the massive lumps of white silk, not help by Rik trolling her through Siegfried, her senses alerted her to some presences of the demonic sort heading her way… from right above the spider webbing. If she had been pale before, then Noire would look like a freaking Ghost when she heard those animalistic screeching. Sounds attributed to the species she had passionately proclaimed to despise just a moment ago. Slowly lifting her head to the space of the ceiling above…

May have not been the best idea.

The reasoning would be simple: as from above her, a whole HORDE of creepy crawlies descended down either from generated silk lines or crawling down the piles of webbing.

In the back of her mind, Noire recognized these Demons from the skimmed information in the Divine Library, she recognized these Demons as Arachne. These Demons resemble giant spiders with vaguely humanoid features. They had many eyes and their forearms were transformed into a pair of blades, resembling those of a Praying Mantis, an abdomen detailed in coloured segments (with one disgusting ability to spawn smaller babies upon death). The smaller, weaker variants she saw here and there, they had blue and white bodies and the larger, stronger ones were a green colour.

As one might imagine…

Noire completely lost it after a few seconds of staring at them with her eyes sunken into soulless orbs of darkness.

"HYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

* * *

By the time 20 minutes passed…

"Haah… hah… haaah…"

Deep, heavy breaths released themselves from Noire's form, her form hunched over whilst her knees were in a bent position. Her hair clung to her forehead thanks to the sweat she had exuded from the constant combat she had experienced just now alongside with the adrenaline formed from her own panic exploding beyond her control. Because of this mental state, her stamina had been depleted much faster than it would have if she had fought with a more stable mental state. In her right hand, which had its arm clad in the gauntlet known as the Satanic Treasure Raijin (which she had discovered back in the Divine Library was a Mortal Rank Satanic Treasure), she held her High Frequency Blade which constantly vibrated dangerously with violent electric currents. A sign she had been using the sword against a but load of foes recently.

Any who saw this wouldn't be wrong either especially with the numerous Arachne Corpses scattered around her, each hacked and chopped up into little tiny pieces to the point where they could be considered unrecognizable. Heads, bodies, thoraxes, carapaces, legs, blades, countless bodyparts were scattered through the area. Discarded by their killer as if they were nothing but garbage in her eyes… which in a sense, they were. She didn't even notice nor care when they all vanished into Particles as she remained focused on her own ability to recover from the strenuous combat she had just went through.

It may have only been 20 minutes, but in reality, she may as well have fought over 500 Demons at once.

That just went to show how intense the fight (or rather one-sided freaked out slaughter) had been for her.

"…Haaah…. Haah… hah… Phew… its over…" The blackette mumbled with what hair which remained unattached to her forehead shadowing her eyes in view. Once she regained her breath though, she stood up tall and looked around, her eyes clear and firm like she had just resolved a great conflict. "The world is once again pure. None of that filth will have escaped here alive. Yes… the world is once again pure…" she murmured, feeling like some great heroine who had just slain a mighty beast for immense fame and glory. Even now, she could hear the voices of many spider haters parading through the streets, putting her on a black and silver throne with the grand title of 'Black Heart: The Spider Slayer' engraved on top. Her lap would be covered by her HF Blade which she would caress in an endearing manner, like a mother coveting the protection of her child.

In her Dreamworld, Siegfried wondered if it were to be wise to inform her that these Arachne likely laid eggs before coming here in case they bit the dust… But decided not to so Noire would leave this room faster.

Women were weird, he could never truly understand them…

Just then, something bright shining behind him drew his attention, and when he looked at it his eyes widened in surprise.

Outside…

_… Noire, good news!..._

'Eh?' The moment she heard his voice, Noire nearly jumped when she felt the sheer excitement flowing through Siegfried's words. She'd been striding towards the exit to the following area after having recovered from the… fright, that she had been forced to go through earlier when it happened. Still, if her Heroic Spirit got this excited, then it had to be worth it she felt, so she quickly sent a mental message to him. 'What is it, then? It has to have been good if you're this happy…'

_...It appears that Balmung and Ashbringer have finally repaired themselves! They can once more be used…_

After Siegfried said this, two flashes appeared on her back, and when Noire glanced behind her, she saw the familiar hilts belonging to her two base swords: swords which she used most of all amongst the weapons in her arsenal. The sight of them, well… the moment she perceived it Noire's eyes shot open wide for a brief second, almost in disbelief. Having not seen these two in so long (well, this was how she felt anyways), she almost didn't even recognize them. The energy signatures within them weren't as bright as normal, but Noire didn't care about that. It only went to show that they had just recently finished repairing themselves, thus they would momentarily regain their splendour.

However, as that moment passed…

"Whoo hoo! Yeah, this is great! Whooo!" evidentially even someone as proud and prudish as Noire couldn't contain her excitement and elation. She even began hopping up and down like someone such as Neptune or Compa would have done at seeing her original swords returning to her. Now, Noire didn't exactly have the same mentality towards her weapons that someone like Nico, Guts or people from Leanbox who had great attachments to their weapons did, but she had fought with these weapons for a long time, thus she had a good foundation for their uses and their weaknesses. Heck, she could now once more display her full power using the Sword Mistress Style, something she couldn't do nearly as well as with the Heavy Sword known as Dragon Fault.

A few seconds later, did her brain fully process what she had just done, and just like that Noire's face heated up and became a bright cherry red. She also abruptly halted all motion too, looking down at the ground with steam coming off the top of her head. Memories of what she had just done in the last few moments rushed through her mind, only furthering her embarrassment and humiliation. 'Oh Goddess, I am SO glad nobody was around to see me like that. The humiliation and degrading of my public image would kill me…' she muttered in her mind, already sensing Siegfried becoming silent on the matter. Good, he was learning.

With that in mind, Noire continued on her journey, intending to forget this had ever happened. Though, she did gently rub the hilts of her swords with one hand like an affectionate parent since nobody would be watching her.

Siegfried himself remained silent for not just the threat of Noire trying to force him to remain silent (her glare in that state would do wonders for any man attempting to woo her), bus also of silent contemplation of previous events. He'd already formed an idea as to why Noire was acting like this, he'd seen it before when she jumped off the Temen-Ni-Gru's peak after first awakening. It seemed like thanks to activating her Devil Trigger, Noire's inhibitions had been partially unsealed due to the surge of Demonic Energy. As a result, she would likely have moments which could be seen as out of character for her, yet when she would Devil Trigger, her inhibitions would be pretty much unsealed completely, leading to her being more honest with herself. He wasn't sure if other Demonic Power users had similar traits, but he did recall through viewing her memories that Nico became way more serious in his DPU Form than his human form.

'Should I tell her…? Hmmm… perhaps I will, one of these days...'

Entering the next room, Noire took a few steps forth before she eyed her new surroundings. She saw how she had stepped onto an elevated platform with two staircases leading downwards on either side. Beneath it, was a stream of flowing water similar to the lower half of a sewer tunnel. Beside the water tunnel, there were two more stone platforms, with the one on the right having a door likely leading further onward. However, there looked to be a blue Ward blocking the way forth, something which caused Noire to roll her eyes. 'Ugh, great this means I'll have to make sure figure out the solution…' Noire thought as she stepped forth, hopping off the platform and into the water below.

Ahead of her, she saw a single walkway which had a stone glyph on it, ahead of that being a square shaped platform with a series of orb-like structures aligned in several different positions. She kept her focus on them and not on the Damage Wheel which was located at the back of the platform. 'These things… the way they look remind me of shogi pieces… and the platform seems to be similar to a shogi board in terms of shape…' Noire remarked to herself in a criticising fashion. As a way to better her strategic thinking, Noire had sometimes looked into various strategy board games, even going as far as to play against some of the more competent staff embers whenever she had free time… and there wasn't any urgent matters to deal with. It had been a way for her to connect better with her Staff, so that nothing like Avenir replacing her faithful could ever happen again.

Approaching the glyph before the platform, Noire eyed the statue on it that carried a mirror whilst some of the floating shogi pieces had arrows made of light on them. Arrows which appeared to be pointed in different directions, which sent Noire's brain into overdrive as she pondered the meaning here. Not to mention the other Statue at the end which had another mirror which released a bright light. 'Hmmmm… judging by what I'm seeing here… yeah, that looks like it's the case.' She thought to herself, cupping her chin as she analysed the whole puzzle. She didn't doubt that some cryptic message would be imprinted on the glyph behind her, but she felt like this puzzle would be easier to solve than the ones she had to so far.

At first, Noire didn't know what exactly she could start with. She experimented first by trying to see if the Damage Wheel at the back caused any changes, but by the time it had fully activated then deactivated 5 minutes later, nothing had happened. 'Well, that was a bust…' she thought to herself. 'So, the Damage Wheel's useless then…' the Lastation CPU thought with an irritated twitching eyebrow. She never liked failure in any form, more so than others given how prideful she felt herself to be. Still, this wouldn't be enough to deter her, so she steeled her resolve to keep going. 'Alright… let's see if we can try something else…'

After a few minutes turning into 10, Noire found herself forming a theory. 'Looks like I'm meant to guide the light at the back to try and connect with the statue beside me…' she thought, standing by the unlit statue before the walkway. It was the only solution that made sense in her mind, as the evidence pointed to such a conclusion. The reason why she had taken as long as she had, had been simply due to debating with Siegfried on what this place could mean. But, if this was truly the case, then how would she go about it? These shogi pieces were arranged in such a way that she could only describe this board as a mess, and when she had tried to move one, even transforming into her Dragonblood Form (proving Lid's claims about the clothes repairing bit) wouldn't offer any results. They just stayed in their places in the air, motionless.

For a while, Noire repeatedly analysed and theorized about this, testing different ideas to see what might happen. Eventually, her efforts bore fruit when, in a query to see if her human form could destroy one, Noire smashed the shogi piece in front of the light-wielding statue with Ashbringer. Indirectly recalling how to grip and wield it since this would be the first since she awoke her Devil Trigger, too. When she smashed her sword against it, the whole thing disintegrated into nothingness like shattered glass scattering like dust in the winds… which resulted in the light shooting towards the shogi piece behind it.

'Whoa!' she thought, glancing to her opposite side to see the piece being impacted by the light and tart relaying it in the direction the light arrow had been facing. The light now got redirected into a V shape, filling a majority of the platform. When she saw this and comprehended it, something sparked within the depths of her mind. 'Of course! THAT's what's going on here! We just have to guide the light towards the opposite statue, which would solve the puzzle and likely break the Ward barring my path!' she thought with a victorious grin spreading across her lips. Looked like those previous puzzles she'd faced helped developed her problem-solving skills to a more practical use than just contemplating the ways of how a Nation should be run alongside the mess that is politics.

_…It would also explain the Damage Wheel. For those who don't get it right and smash the wrong piece that wheel must serve as a means to reconstruct the puzzle from the very beginning…_

Nodding her head in agreement with Siegfried's words, the blackette hurriedly looked at the rest of the pieces, having to twirl a full 360 degrees to do so. She thought about it for a while, contemplating and experimenting with the pieces by destroying each one at a time. More than once did she get it wrong though, which made her have to repeatedly strike at the Damage Wheel to, as Siegfried had hypothesized, reset the entire puzzle. Only by destroying the piece right before the statue due to its light arrow pointing in the correct direction which would reflect it towards connecting with the other statue, did the light fully enter it which caused both the Damage Wheel to fully activate (a clearly good sign in and of itself) as well as the Ward on the next door to shatter.

'Yes! It worked! Now we can continue with our day!' she thought in victory, jumping into the air and landing before the next door. That done, she pushed it open with one hand and proceeded to head inside, wondering what she would see on the other side.

The following room would be described as… hectic, if she were to use one word to do so.

It had consisted of a massive underground chamber, though really Noire didn't expect anything else since the last room had been inside such a chamber as well. In this section however, there was only a single pathway to go down, one which had walkways, bridges, large platforms and the like to traverse. This would have ben a fairly easy jog, or she could have just taken her Dragonblood Form to fly to the doorway on the other side, but there was one problem: Enigmas.

Not just a few either, but a whole HORDE of them, easily numbering in the hundreds, had appeared in this section, and had seemed to have been waiting for her. She would have felt flattered that such creatures would have been willing to spend so much effort on her, it would have stroked her already sizable ego. However, that would have been before they began downright bombarding her with energy arrows. She'd be able to deal with them timely enough, having learned to time her attacks to destroy the arrows before they could hit her in previous battles. It wasn't like they were that tough to begin with either, especially when she got in close to strike for the kill, and whenever she had to fight them from a distance, she had either her ranged Skill attacks (minus TWILIGHT WAVE from Balmung, of course), or her trusty Handguns Luce and Ombra to rain hell upon the enemy. By all accounts, she SHOULD have been able to take them out with relative ease, though with their numbers it would have merely taken a bit longer.

However, that lay the problem itself: their NUMBERS, they were pretty overwhelming. They'd reached the hundreds as per mentioned, and because of this they'd been able to bombard her with more arrows than she could realistically hope to destroy with simple sword swings, even with ZANDATSU and if she used that for a long time it would only add to her disadvantage. It didn't help that some of them even launched these red coloured energy arrows which had much more power than the others, she'd seen how destructive they were once when one of them nearly hit her, ending up making a crater the size of an average vehicle as opposed to a human sized one for the normal Arrows. Also didn't help that their bombardment slowed her mobility, so she couldn't exactly clear them without wasting precious time.

And if there's one thing Noire hated with a passion…

That would be wasting time which could have been used for something more productive.

As such, Noire had to spend roughly an hour in traversing the pathway whilst slicing, shooting and stabbing through one group of Demons after another. Not very fun after the first few minutes, but with how it helped her get used to wielding Balmung and Ashbringer again, she couldn't really complain.

The following Corridor, by comparison… had its own little twists to it. Once Noire had finished off the Demons attacking her, she had passed through the door to reach the other side, finding a sharp corner which lead to a corridor filed with these rotating pillars on both sides… pillars with circular blades built into them, which had explained the ringing sound she had heard upon entry. There had even been a group of Greeds in-between them attempting to summon a bunch of their comrades, groans escaping their lips as they made their way to swing their Coffins. Not like Noire would have let them of course, as she had quickly bisected them via beheadings before they could even attempt anything. She'd even flipped about on the walls in a triangular fashion, triangle jumping like a certain blue and black/red hedgehog sometimes did during a game called SH.

So yeah… Well, none of that could be called boring at least.

* * *

After decapitating the last Hell Greed before it could summon any more Demons (Not like it could do that very well with the narrow space that was the corridor, but yeah), Noire flew forwards like a bullet through the air towards the door on the other side. Just before she could impact on it, normal people would have tried to just land and slide to a halt before they could bluntly collide with the door, its metal meeting their faces. However, an idea sparked within Noire's mind, and before she knew it her body acted before her brain could possibly process it. A surge of action played out before her eyes, as her form flipped forwards a single time before angling itself into a flying kick. One which slammed into the door's centre and flung it wide open, her reflexes quickly triggering as she flipped about again and landed in a crouch.

'Whoa! Now THAT was one dangerous stunt… That was something someone like Neptune or Nico might have tried to pull off…!' The blackette thought in bafflement, shock and disbelief as she took a moment to catch her breath. She once thought her heart would jump about of her chest at what she had just done, and she should have done the NORMAL thing which would be to scold herself for being so reckless. It was so out of character for her… and yet, she didn't even TRY to scold herself for it. Even with her thoughts on what she did Noire couldn't deny how absolutely THRILLING that moment had been, how liberated and exhilarated she had felt inside when doing it. Was this the side effect that the Devil Trigger had on her?

Shaking her head to stop thinking about it for the time being, Noire stood up and looked around to see where she had ended up. The moment she did, she soon realized she was still within the same chamber-like setting she had seen in the other rooms, although there were stark differences. Like for example how everywhere she looked she could see differently shaped ruins of varying levels of damage. Like some major battle had taken place and these ruins had once been this battle's central playing field.

'This is like some lost underground city…' Noire couldn't help but think to herself, taking a few steps forwards. After a moment of admiring the various ruins, statues and the like, even eyeing the waterfall which fell from a high cliff and seemed to cover an entrance to a cavern far to her right, Noire gave a small exhale. This would happen before she closed her eyes and expanded her senses, trying to feel the Demonic Power she had been tracking down. 'Yeah, I'm definitely getting closer…' the blackette thought, feeling a sense of tension growing in her chest when she sensed her target energy in the distance. It felt closer, much closer in fact which meant that so far, she had been on the right track. Now that she was closer though, she could feel it in much greater accuracy, so she could feel much more about it than before. For one, she felt like this Demon might use some form of electricity or something, due to how wild and vicious it felt. It reminded her of lightning bolts meant to impale, rip, tear and shred their targets with lethal force, something which sent nervous shudders down her spine.

Moreover, Noire didn't feel like she was being watched anymore, something she had discovered whilst sensing the energy of the Demon she was hunting. The blackette felt like whatever had been watching her had vanished some time ago, so she figured that either the Demon had decided to wait for her since there were no signs of movement, or that she had given it the slip herself. Her pride made her consider the second option more, but a sound from Siegfried stopped that process in its tracks. 'Well, if my senses are accurate, it would be likely that the Demon's hiding somewhere within that Cavern…' Noire thought as she looked towards the waterfall-covered cavern entrance. She could see how she would be able to get there, so that wouldn't be a problem.

But what she DID find potentially troublesome would be her lack of knowledge on the Demon itself. Noire was no fool, as she approached the Demon's location, she would try to gather any kind of information which could possibly lead to finding out more on its powers through sensing its energy, but sadly that achieved very little. She had no idea what the Demon looked like nor what powers it could possess. A lack of intelligence on the battlefield could spell deaths for thousands, she knew this fact very well. However, she didn't have any other option but to hop into this unknown territory blind, as if there was one thing the Books at the Divine Library didn't cover, it would have been the other 'Floor Guardians' as Noire had taken to calling the boss-type Demons such as the Cerberus and the Gigapede as.

'Whatever powers it possesses, I can't let the Demon live, if me and Lid are to be able to advance further inward. Therefore, I should probably have as many powerful weapons as I can by the time we face off against it. Good thing I have Balmung and Ashbringer, plus my Dragonblood Form with its Dragon Fault Heavy Sword as well as Chaoseater and my Devil Trigger… but, one can never be too careful…' she thought, glancing down at her right arm. The same arm which her Satanic Treasure Raijin would form over whenever she summoned it. Thinking about that weapon, it had gotten her into wondering something. 'Would it be possible, to…?'

What she had been pondering over since first re-entering the Tower, had been something which she had recalled from her fight with Agni and Rudra. Back then, she'd discovered they had been sentient Satanic Treasures of immense power, but years of inactivity in this Tower had weakened them somewhat. BUT, upon defeating them, they had self-detonated and allowed their Souls to be devoured by her Appetite Demon, which had been how she had gained dominance over fire and wind in her Devil Trigger. The same could be said for her Lightning affinity thanks to the Gigapede's soul, though that Succubus hadn't been too powerful, so her Devil Trigger didn't get anything from it.

But… and this had been one big IF, but what if she could transfer and seal a powerful Satanic Treasure into something else? Something which could contain it and maybe even gain a level of power from it? Sentience and soul-related matters were quite prevalent in the older generations of Demons and Satanic Treasures, Devil Arms were perfect examples of this. This had been something which didn't cross her mind for a while, but when it did the blackette couldn't shake the feeling herself. '… What do you think about this, Siegfried?'

_…I believe it could be an interesting development, as well as one which has strong possibility. It has been proven that Satanic Treasures can be transferred into another being, imbuing them with their powers. This may have been possible only due to you possessing a Soul Devouring Appetite Demon, but there's a chance the opposite is also true. If your thinking of Raijin by the way, given its past behaviour I can theorize that its sentience is that of a wild animal's, requiring strong minds to tame it, which makes sense since its full power is that of a Demonic Ranked Satanic Treasure. However, I believe that for now you might wish to focus on your current task of locating this Demon, so we can advance into the Temen-Ni-Gru…_

Nodding her head at his words, knowing that he had a point, Noire shelfed the idea for the time being. It was true that out of all her weapons, she used Raijin the least due to her preferring to use sword weapons in her fighting. However, if this idea had plausibility, then perhaps she could make one of her swords as strong as a Demonic Ranked Satanic Treasure, which could be a GREAT boon for her in the future. Not just against Vicious though. And if she could find the materials for the Fiendgod Bloodforging rites, too…

With those thoughts shelved temporarily, Noire started her trek towards the Cavern entrance, sometimes glancing about to see if she could see anything worth examining. Though, thanks to the ruins being built like they were, Noire Got the nostalgic feeling of being in that space distorting Abnormal Dungeon with all the platforming she had to do around the place, but Noire didn't mind. If anything, it provided a nice change from fighting so many Demons all the darn time. Still, it did lead to some… interesting results until she managed to approach the waterfall.

One such example would be a door on her right which had led to a similar corridor to the one which she had just passed through… though in this case, she had come back with a hand-sized black ball of something called Ambrosia. That one had been close to a faceless statue, something which hinted to her that there seemed to be something she had to get before she could see what it really did. One other thing she'd found was a Mortal Ranked Satanic Treasure shaped like a Sniper Rifle, one she had taken to calling 'Spiral'.

Once she had put that into her Inventory, Noire had searched around for the time being, but couldn't find much else. She did find an entrance to one of those secret missions though, but she chose not to do it for the time being. She wanted to take out the Demon first, so she had a bit more freedom in her time management. Lid was counting on her too, so she wouldn't let her sole comrade here down.

As such, Noire finally made it through the waterfall, and into the cavern entrance.

* * *

"So… here we are."

After trying to navigate through the surprisingly complex cavern system (and running into more than a few Demonic surprises along the way), Noire finally managed to find herself standing before a stone door embedded in the side of the cavern. The door itself seemed to (much to her surprise and mild embarrassment), have a caring of a nude female reaching out to hold something resembling a hole in the carving. A hole which she quickly realized fit the shape of the Ambrosia completely.

'Phew, glad I decided to do the exploring here, saves me the trouble of backtracking and seeing what else would be available…' Noire thought to herself in relief as she took out the Ambrosia from her Inventory. 'Not to mention that this place is RIPE with this electrifying Demonic Power… which pretty much confirms my hunch that the Demon responsible for barring our path is in here…' she thought further whilst placing the Ambrosia into the hole. Once she did, Noire retracted her hand and took single step back, waiting for something to happen.

She didn't get disappointed either, as moments after she had placed it in the slot, Noire saw the entire structure lift itself upwards into the earth above… revealing a pair of admittingly fancy-looking crimson doors. Ones she would not feel like they wouldn't fit in something designed by Leanbox construction workers. 'Hmmm…' Noire mused mentally, cupping her chin in thought with a hand on her hip. 'Siegfried. Considering what little we know about this Demon's possible power set, what are our odds?' she questioned, soon getting an answer.

_…Given that you can only Devil Trigger for 5 minutes, your HDD form's restricted, your Dragonblood Form is merely a blunt club, and you have your old swords back, I would estimate our chances of gaining victory being at the 40 to 50% margin… _

'… I see. Well, not like I could have asked for better odds…' Noire thought before shaking her head, steeling her resolve and approaching the door. She put a hand on it and pushed it open, stepping inside whilst mentally preparing herself for whatever lay within.

* * *

Upon entering the doorway, Noire found herself stepping into a large, spacious looking room. Her eyes slightly widened as her left hand, which had been gripping Balmung's hilt whilst her right arm had Raijin at the ready for any surprise attacks, stopped channelling its Lightning for an attack. 'What the… what is this…?' she wondered in complete bafflement, stepping forth a few times before she stopped to take in the sight visible to her right now. If she were someone who had the intention of entering a scary badass Demon's lair, she wouldn't think that it would look as… grandiose as this. If anything, she would have thought it a cold, grey and bleak place with loads of skulls, bones from defeated intruders, lit only by torches with carvings of blood on the walls and a whole 'stay away from here otherwise you will most certainly die painfully' vibe. What she saw right now, however, seemed like the complete opposite of that. It actually reminded her largely of Leanbox culture with how everything looked like something that Nation would use for entertainment.

The room looked like some sort of opera house, what with the opposite side of the room having a set of curtains behind a set of circular steps. Beside those curtains, several towers of speakers could be seen, with the floor and walls being made from the earth that the Cavern had been a made from. The room itself had a pretty decent amount of space in it, so there wasn't any kind of possibility for battles to be too cramped. That is, if she intended to use her Noble Phantasm's signature attack anywhere in here, which Noire had zero intentions for so she didn't have to worry about that. Aside from that there was a door to the side which would likely lead to a path which Noire had seen during her exploring of the maze-like tunnels from earlier. The whole room, whilst her senses picked up huge concentrations of Demonic Power scattered throughout, still represented a kind of homey feel to it, which differentiated it from the rest of the places Noire had seen which had a more… well, she could only say it as an open threat kind of vibe to them.

So yeah, not the kind of thing she was expecting yet again.

Still though…

'What is an Opera House doing down here? Why would someone build one here also? Aren't they meant to entertain via music?' Noire wondered whilst thinking back to some historical research she had done once. According to her research, Opera Hoses were these large theatre buildings used for performances that consisted of a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, and backstage facilities for costumes and set building. While some venues were constructed specifically for operas, other opera houses were part of larger performing arts centres. In current times, the term opera house itself was often used as a term of prestige for any large performing-arts center. Not just in Leanbox anymore although that had been where they had originated from, but in other Nations too even her own, the term had been used. She learned more about her Nation every single day it seemed sometimes…

Whilst she admired her surroundings, Noire also kept an eye out for any sign of trouble, like the Demon appearing. Outwardly, she just looked like some random awed adventurer, stepping forth and spinning around to get a look at everything around her like some wonder-filled child discovering something new for the first time. 'This Demon… With all this energy in the air, I'm unable to pinpoint its exact location, it must have tried to do this to confuse me beforehand and is now lying in wait for me. That sneaky little… its obviously not like the others I've faced, since they would just come out instantly, the very moment I'm close enough to try and take me out. This one on the other hand, seems like its calmly analysing me, weighing up whether or not I'm a threat to it before making its appearance…' Noire theorized in her mind, making sure to keep up the act as best as she could. She wanted to get as much of an advantage as she could since she didn't know much about this Demon, or what it looked like. A surprise attack could very well settle a battle before it can even begin after all.

**"Ufufufufufu…"**

SQUEAK-SQUEAK- SQUEAK-SQUEAK-SQUEAK-SQUEAK-SQUEAK-SQUEAK-SQUEAK-SQUEAK!

All of a sudden, her thoughts halted as bats emerged from the shadows, coveting her position and spiralling around her. They came with such speed and intensity that Noire didn't have even a millisecond to react, forcing her to cover her face instead of outright attacking like she had initially intended to. 'Ugh… what the heck?!' she screamed in her mind as constant squeaking came from the bats enveloping the space around her like some sort of cocoon. They weren't attacking her as of yet, but the winds they generated caused her hair to flutter about wildly. 'These bats…! They just came out of nowhere like its no big deal!' It wasn't just their surprise reveal either, but when she briefly managed to sense Demonic Power again, she got the realization that these Bats had traces of it in their systems! What the heck, was this part of the Demon's power?! That was something Noire found herself wondering as she tried to see past the Bats to see where the Demon would end up forming from.

**"ufufufufu…"**

Alas, all she heard was that feminine chuckle, the same one she had heard before, just a millisecond prior to the bats showing up. She could tell that it was a feminine one due to the vocals used, not to mention it almost sounded like it came from everywhere around her all at once. Shudders of discomfort travelled down her spine, especially when the chuckling voice started to speak once more so close that it felt like it had leaned forth to RIGHT beside her very ear.

**"AHHHH.. it HAS been a LONG time SINCE we had GUESTS… uninvited GUESTS as well… I got SO excited I could NOT control MYSELF, or MY little PETS here… APOLOGIES, dear..."**

Just after this voice spoke, Noire's eyes shot open when the Bats all retreated similar to a swarm of drones obeying the orders of their queen. The bats then began to squeak in a wild, unfocused manner with countless flapping wing sounds filling the air (much to Noire's annoyance) before they began to converge together upon a spot on the ground before her. Strangely enough, the moment the bats met the ground there, they seemingly MELTED into it like they were solids rapidly transforming into a liquid, the more bats which joined their brothers in this state the larger the puddle of darkness ended up becoming. Eventually, a figure began to surface from beneath the pool, rising through it as if it were a portal to another dimension.

Only, once the figure completely passed through did the portal dissolve into bats again, which then clung to the figure's body to become… clothing? Noire wasn't sure what creeped her out more, the fact that a Demon came out a portal of Darkness or that it wore clothes made from living breathing animals. Gradually the more she thought about it, the last one became more and more the right choice, especially when Noire finally got a clear look at the figure which turned out to be... a Woman.

'Okay, I know this is filthy rich coming from me, but does the word MODESTY mean anything to these Demons?' Noire shrieked in her mind, quickly feeling like a hypocrite when she recalled what her HDD Form looked like. Even so, she tried to focus her attention AWAY from the revealing outfit that the Demonic Woman seemed to possessed, and really began to look at her, analysing her appearance like a mathematician would when looking at a calculation.

Before her, the woman who wore a dress made entirely of bats which formed into 'layers', looked to be in her mid to early 20's… not to mention insanely attractive, enough to charm both men and women alike. Even Noire almost felt like some of her heterosexuality got diminished when looking at her, though she quickly dispelled such thoughts when she remembered this to be a Demon intent on hindering her and Lid's progress. She had long, crimson locks which went down to her mid back, sort of reminding her of Lucy in a way, but this woman's hair also seemed like the only thing covering some hand-sized breasts too. Hence, why Noire had the embarrassing moment either. Her eyes were a matching colour, and also had fox-like slitted pupils which eyed her with... boredom?

Huh?

A sigh of disappointment escaped the Demon's lips once she spent a second or two regarding Noire's appearance, looking her up and down. This made her huff in indignation as she shifted into an offensive stance, having drawn out Ashbringer whilst prepping to spring forwards. "And WHATS got up your backside?" she remarked at her.

However, instead of answering Noire right away, the Demon looked at her, seemingly trying to search for something, before she shook her head whilst sighing again, a hand over her face.

**"APOLOGIES dear... but if THIS is what YOU have to OFFER... then I must PASS..."**

"Huh?!" Noire gawked when she saw the womanly Demon turn her back on her, not even considering her an opponent or a threat, before stepping up the steps and then form a seat made from bats. She sat down on it and looked like she wanted to wait for something, what that was she wasn't sure but Noire did NOT like how easily it dismissed her. "What the heck are you talking about?! We're here to fight, so lets get on with it already!"

**"HMPH, as BRASH as I had EXPECTED... I'M sorry, but IF I cannot OBTAIN an ENEMY CHANGE, then I will NOT fight... I don't GET off ON women, ESPECIALLY little PIPSQUEAKS like yourself..."**

"WHAT?!"

Okay, NOW Noire looked outright pissed, with how red her face had become as well as steam coming out her ears in small puffs. Her teeth gnashed as a feeling of being insulted filled her being. "How DARE you say that about me!" she bellowed, pointing Ashbringer at her. As long as she had been alive, Noire had a sizable Fan Club as annoying as they were the majority of the time. Not to mention she considered herself the perfect balance out of the four of the Goddesses. So, hearing someone call her ugly did NOT sit well with her.

Sadly for her, the insults didn't stop there.

**"#YAWN# Sugar, LET me TELL you. You would NOT do IT for me EVEN if YOU were the LAST being on GAMINDUSTRI. Me? I am Nevan, and I am OLDER than a THOUSAND of YOU put TOGETHER. I have SEEN your ILK too MANY times prior, and YOU are even MORE boorish than them. FAR less ATTRACTIVE too, LIKE an UGLY duckling. SO, if you WOULD be so KIND as to LEAVE, or AT least BRING some DELECTABLE eye candy, THAT would be GREAT too..."**

"Y-YOU... YOU...!"

Whilst the Demon sat there with a bat having taken a cup of coffee (Noire had no clue where it came from nor did she care) to her for Nevan to sip with elegance, not even regarding the person before her as worth her time, Noire looked to be close to a meltdown with how furious she felt inside. Flames of feminine fury built up inside her chest at how utterly LIVID this Demon had made her feel, it was bad enough that she wasn't even acknowledging Noire as a worthy opponent, that in itself would be an insult to her pride, but on top of that she had the NERVE to call her ugly. HER of all people! Noire had never felt so furious in her life, this felt even more than when Neptune got under her skin, and that said a lot. "ARGH! You bitch! i'mma gonna cut you into little fine chunks!"

At the blackette's denial, a resigned sigh escaped the Demon, her response proving that this fight would be unavoidable Instead of pulling herself off her chair though, the Demon Nevan simply summoned a Swarm of Bats to cover her form, acting like a defence barrier whilst she sipped her tea like nobody's business. Though, she did aim a bored look in the livid Noire's direction, as if to say: bring it, bitch.

That was all it took for Noire to take the initiative and start the fight.

* * *

**Chapter end!**

**Not a lot to talk about just some exploration and foreshadowing of future events. The whole Nevan and Noire thing came from King Carlos as I had asked him for advice on this scene. In canon, Dante was someone whom Nevan seemed to like in an attraction sense, so someone like Noire who is the complete opposite of him in more ways than one would provoke different reactions from her. He helped me see that, so shout out to him. **

**The whole Satanic Treasure thing is something I've been thinking about since the fight with Agni and Rudra, since the upcoming boss if you've played the referenced game, has a certain element to it. Its sparked an idea in me which I'm thinking of implementing since it will help Noire fight future opponents like in the upcoming Lowee Arc. **

**The reason why this is a short chapter with little happening that is of importance, is so that you all can take a small breather before the big stuff comes right back again next chapter. Don't worry, I will do my best to deliver an... interesting boss battle next round, so look forwards to that. **


	21. Chapter 21 - Nevan the Lightning Witch

**Chapter 21 - Nevan the Lightning Witch**

**(Play Devil May Cry 3 OST - Nevan Battle theme)**

Noire shot through the air like a bullet, still in human form with Ashbringer in her two hands. She didn't have nearly the same level of speed that she did if she were to take her other forms, but it still surpassed superhuman levels. As such, she cleared the distance between the steps and her previous position in a few milliseconds. However, if she had any thoughts that the Demon would let her get close without putting up any resistance, they would have gotten smashed out of existence in the following moment. When she stepped onto the first step did the bats start acting up, quickly sparking with dozens of purple lightning bolts over their forms.

Her eyes widened when she glanced at them, her senses screaming at her in alarm to get the fuck out of there before something very bad would inevitably happen. 'Crap!' Noire thought, slamming her feet onto the ground before jumping right back, just barely avoiding a surge of hand-sized Balls made from violently sparking Lightning, which erupted from the Bats and showered the space which Noire had once been. Frantic, furious shrieks erupted from the Bats when this happened, furious that their attacks had been dodged, although they weren't finished with the Blackette CPU yet.

Not by a single damn long shot, that's for sure. Their mistress commanded them, and they would obey.

Flipping through the air like a pro, Noire righted herself just before she could land on the ground, although that soon became irrelevant since she had to roll to the side when several Bats unleashed these pillars of purple Lightning which raced towards her position. Shock danced through her eyes at that moment, before she barely did this in time before she could get introduced to some very… shocking, developments. Man, that pun sucked shockingly bad….

Ok, I'll stop.

Lifting Ashbringer in one hand after rolling into a crouch, all the while noticing the violent sparks which dominated the creatures' forms, Noire glared at her opponents. From what she'd seen through the brief interaction just now, those Bats had fairly decent reaction time, not to mention power and reflexes, which meant this would likely gave them a vicious edge in battle.

She didn't get much of a chance to breathe though, as the Bat swarm split into multiple smaller groups, all of them converging on her position from multiple different angles. Each group maliciously sparked with Lightning before they launched constant showers of Lightning bolts, ones the size of a human finger but no less deadly. Noire had to activate Ashbringer's LIGHT DRIVE in order to dodge them all in time, but even then she barely managed to avoid getting electrocuted. It didn't help that the Bat swarms each co-ordinated with each other in brutal efficiency, like a military unit lead y an expert commander they viciously assaulted her from all types of positions, raining Lightning blasts on her from one form after another. Balls, bolts, Pillars, streaks, blades, even AOE attacks enough to catch up to 10 people off guard.

Flipping sideways through the air and angling herself so that she could avoid several Lightning bolts which shot through the gaps between her legs, Noire slammed a palm onto the ground, slowing herself to a halt. 'Phew, that almost made my heart skip a beat…' she thought, noticing how the Bats had largely left Nevan exposed. Just seeing that Demon bitch's serene face aggravated the blackette Goddess to the core, giving her the desire to pulverize that smug ass smile right of her damn face! 'Oh goddess, I'm starting to sound like Blanc…' Noire thought with a twisted grimace. However, she didn't let this chance pass her by, not when she could help it. As such, Noire used it to launch herself towards her opponent, Ashbringer brimming with pure golden light.

Her intent was simple, according to biology, Bats were creatures which preferred dark caves to the light of day. They were night-dwellers essentially, which meant that the light Ashbringer brought out should be enough for her to break through their defences and then strike Nevan directly. Thus, for a weapon like Ashbringer which was a Light-based weapon, not only that but it excelled in damaging non-human foes, it would essentially be the perfect counter to Nevan's Bats. In her mind, a chibi version of her already slashed a chibi Nevan with a glowing Ashbringer, the latter chibi's face exclaiming in agony as the light coursed through her system like poison. Hah, she'd sure show her whose an ugly duckling!

Idly, Nevan glanced her way after looking up from her tea… before she shook her head in haughty derision and paid her no further mind causing Noire's face to scrunch up angrily.

'I'll show her…!'

_…Noire, wait! She's…_

Siegfried's words fell on deaf ears as Noire brought her sword down on Nevan's position, fully expecting her to receive it. However, just as she raised the blade for an overhead strike, the many Bats in the room converged in front of her, forming a wall whilst emitting countless sparks of purple Lightning. As a result, when the blade met the Lightning wall, Noire's shock became shockingly apparent when she literally got electrocuted on contact. A shrill shriek of pain constantly erupted from her mouth within the following seconds, Lightning coursing through her body whilst purple Lightning flew off her form, sending her flying across the room.

**"…Tut, TUT, tut. YOU should LISTEN to your ELDERS, little GIRL. Lest YOU wind up a SNACK for MY little… PETS. C'mon SUGAR… prove ME right…"**

'This bitch…!' Noire thought, flushed with anger as she made to stand up and glare at her opponent, only to jump sideways to dodge a pillar of Lightning as the Bats one again split apart, launching their own offensives against her. As she blocked, parried and dodged each one, she tried to pull out Balmung with her free hand, however to Noire's shock she soon got zapped int at hand by a Bat swarm coming from the rear. Not only that, but the Swarm closed in from behind, forcing her to launch a CRUSADER STRIKJE, a JUDGEMENT and a TEMPLAR'S VERDICT to deal with them. She even put up her DIVINE SHIELD to lessen the damage the other Swarms were able to deal to her, but it wasn't long before the whole thing shattered, leaving her defences weakened against their constant barrage. 'She's really getting on my nerves…!'

_…Calm yourself, Noire! She's purposefully provoking you to lead you astray! With your Devil Trigger it should be possible for you to get in a finishing blow, but you must be wary. For you can only use it for 5 minutes currently before you have to rest from the energy. Keep on defending for now, wait for a prime opportunity!..._

'You make it sound so easy…!'

**"DON'T be SO but HURT, little ONE, It WLL sting ON the WAY out."**

"Grrr…!"

* * *

10 minutes passed…

Jumping backwards to avoid another batch of Lightning strikes from above, Noire slid across the ground in a crouch, glancing upwards towards the top of the steps where Nevan sat atop on her chair of bats, elegantly sipping tea whilst not regarding everything happening before her with any interest. 'Tch, I can't get any closer to her than this…!' Noire cursed under her breath. More than once had she tried to launch an attack towards where Nevan, the obvious controller of these Bats, resided but every time she did those Bats would always gather together and block it, then counter with one of those Lightning beams of theirs. It annoyed her immensely especially since it moved so fast, she could only dodge it by a hair. Even more frustrating was that the moment she tried to switch weapons, like say Balmung for Dual Wielding or her Handguns, the Bats would quickly notice and pepper her with Lightning bolt showers from both above and below.

Like before, Noire didn't get long to rest when she noticed a faint purple light emitting from beneath her, quickly making her pale as she rolled forwards. This allowed her to roll out the way of an explosion of violent purple Lightning, one she used the momentum of in tandem with her LIGHT DRIVE, to quickly dash towards Nevan. As she did so however, Noire's eyes flashed as she activated her ZANDATSU, slowing down her time perception so she could come up with a strategy. 'Alright, considering what I've seen so far, this bitch seems to think I'll never be able to break her defences, since she's so much hot stuff. And, while I hate to admit this, but she does have some pretty solid foundations for her reasoning. Many of my attacks with Ashbringer have failed, and when I try to switch weapons, they attack me mercilessly. I can't even do it in ZANDATSU since they seem to gain a burst of speed which makes even my altered perception barely able to track them. Not only that, but it seems that she has a sufficiently high power-level too.'

She tried going over what she knew in her head several times, until an idea came to her. 'Pulling some fast play feints like this isn't usually my thing, but if it'll get this battle over with quicker, then…!' she thought in her mind, her eyes steeling themselves as, all of a sudden, she stopped the Technique as well as her movement. This wasn't something a leader should do in her eyes, but given her situation, and that she wanted an opening to Devil Trigger then get a good slash in, she had little other options at the moment. By the Goddess she hoped this would work.

Nevan's gaze flickered from her tea to where Noire stood, her eyes shimmering with slight annoyance that she hadn't left yet. Though, she went back down to her tea when she saw her Bats converging on Noire's position, believing that she would be done momentarily. She had to have better things to do than deal with someone who wasn't even remotely interested in fighting her, like perhaps try venturing deeper into the Temen-Ni -Gru or seduce some poor rich sod to get his money. Then again, with a prude attitude like hers, Nevan suspected she didn't have that many friends to talk to, so that option would be out. It didn't matter to this ancient Demon or whatever, she just wanted to either have this wench leave her alone or at least bring along a handsome specimen to ogle over. Perhaps then life wouldn't be so dull anymore, since it had been so for the last 30 trillion years.

Just as the Bats made to converge on her, though…

'Now!'

Noire immediately sprung into action, reaching for both her Handguns. The action itself resulted in just the thing Noire had predicted, as the Bat swarms all began convulsing from the Lightning which erupted from their forms, shooting towards her from both above and below. At this, an urge to smirk in satisfaction filled her being, but she repressed it for the time being since she needed to focus on the task at hand. As the Lightning blasts surged towards her, intent on punishing her for her actions, Noire quickly unleashed her ZANDATSU again, then had Ashbringer launch a HAMMER OF JUSTICE at a couple of them to get the Bats Disoriented. This resulted in a success, as several Bat Swarms just floated there in a daze when the ones commanding them got bonked on their heads by the Hammers of light, resulting in a brief moment of uncoordinated, frantic movements.

Seeing her chance, Noires' eyes lit up like searchlights. 'Chance!' she thought. 'Quick, gotta make the best of this before those Bats recover!' With that thought in mind, she quickly unleashed her Devil Trigger, shifting into it via a burst of energy which blew the Lightning Bolts back. With this done, Noire pumped her energy into her wings and legs, shooting forth through the Bats and towards Nevan's position once again with Chaoseater already poised for a slash to her head. Since her ZANDATSU had remained active even with her in Devil Trigger, Noire felt PRETTY confident in her chances of getting a hit in for once, the first hit of the fight between them on her side of the field. 'Hope you like blood, bitch, cause you're about to get it!' she thought as her blade began to descend upon her opponent with the goal of splitting her apart.

Nevan though, merely glanced upwards at the sword coming down on her… then gave a low hum.

**"TOOK you LONG enough, LITTLE one…"**

"Eh?"

Just before Chaoseater could make contact with flesh, just like the angry blade longed for, she suddenly saw the woman's dress immediately expand below her feet, forming a hole made from darkness which sucked Nevan inside, stopping Noire from getting a hit in on her. Not to mention the darkness swiftly generated a spike which it used to try and impale her, forcing her to flap her 4 Demon wings forwards to push herself backwards and away from harm. 'What the hell?! Darnit, I thought I had her!' her mind raced as she landed across the room on it's left side, where she looked up and growled to herself as she released her Devil Trigger to shift back to her human form. She didn't want to waste too much energy in that form just yet, with her maximum time limit being 5 minutes for the time being, using it in short bursts like her ZANDATSU would be her best option.

That was when she saw the same portal of darkness manifest in the centre of the room, from which Nevan rose up, her arms crossed under her chest and a shaking head accompanying her. Once she had fully manifested from the portal, it dissolved into many Bats which covered her and formed her Dress, all the while Nevan looked at her with extreme contempt. Much more so than before, as if she had judged her as a failure and a disappointment. "Well, how about that, I managed to make you dodge my attack. How about taking me more seriously from now on?" Noire questioned with a smug smirk.

One which fell when the Demon said what it did next.

**"HOW far EVEYTHING must have FALLEN since THEN… back IN my DAY, warriors TOOK no less than 3 minutes TO figure OUT my BATS weakness… YOU on the OTHER hand, took 10. HOW disappointing…" **

"Oh, stuff it!" Now that she had enough of this lady's bullshit, Noire glared heatedly at her as she drew out her HF Blade, holding it in her fighting stance whilst she remained fixed on utterly crushing her opponent. "Anyways, now that you've finally got off that high hoarse of yours, lets get serious!" With that in mind, Noire quickly unloaded on her with a furious bout of slashes, all for the purpose of Launching several VACUUM SLASH attacks her way. She intended to cut through the woman into little tiny chunks, leaving nothing to protect her from the final blow she planned on dealing with her.

On the other hand, she did not expect for the woman's right sleeve to elongate itself, becoming a whip made from pure shadows, as she swiftly cut through each of them with some simple arm movements. Noire could hardly follow the Demon's movements but if there was one thing, she'd discovered thanks to this it would be that in comparison to her Bats, this Demon woman far surpassed them in speed. That likely extended to her strength, reaction time and endurance too. 'Oh, well now that is fair…' Noire thought in annoyance, holding her HF Blade at the ready while Ashbringer on her back glowed brightly as it allowed her to activate her LIGHT DRIVE. Even though in games the boss was generally stronger than the minions they commanded, it would always be a pain to fight such beings here in reality, something Noire DEFINITELY believed in this case.

Meanwhile, Nevan rolled her eyes at Noire's state, not particularly considering her much of a threat for the time being. She then returned the sleeve to normal, before hissing at the blackette like a serpent with Bats circling around her and forming a shield around her being. Several Swarms formed around her as well, each one crackling with Lightning that was ready to be fired in her direction.

**"Oh FINE, then. I will WASTE my PRECIOUS time in SCHOOLING you BRAT, on WHY it is WISE to LISTEN to your ELDERS. Just DON'T scream, YOU can DO all THAT when you're a BLOODLESS corpse, SUGAR…"**

'Were elegant voices always this annoying to listen to…?' strangely enough, Noire couldn't help the part of her which thought this as she listened to the Demon's words. For some reason, it reminded her of all those annoying whiny Nobles in Leanbox who kept stammering on about useless trivia while not getting much done. She didn't have much time to ponder them though, as Nevan quickly launched her own offensive the blackette's way, swiftly launching Lightning Blasts from her swarms. Noire quickly noticed how they came at her much faster than before, as in compare to previously where they were like bullet trains speed wise they now had the speed of a certain blue hedgehog, so she didn't have time to dodge them so she quickly unleashed her ZANDATSU to slash each of them apart. She even summoned Raijin to her arm, and used it to launch a counter blast filled with highly condensed Lightning Neven's way, only for a wall of Bats to shield her.

Noire, no one to be so easily discouraged, quickly shot through the air towards her opponent, slashing at the shield and the walls with a rapid set of slashes after her ZANDATSU deactivated. The shield held out for a while, until Nevan simply vanished away from her position and Noire found herself encircled by her Bat Swarms, causing the blackette to pale in realization before she quickly activated Ashbringer's DIVINE SHIELD. She hoped that by pushing more of the sword's power into the ability, she would be able to endure the following onslaught.

Unfortunately for her, that hope soon vanished when, seconds into a barrage of Lightning Bolts which peppered her like a heavy rainstorm, the DIVINE SHIELD shattered under their combined might, forcing her to move out the way like a mad woman lest she get an even further up close and personal experience with this woman's Sparks. Fortunately, it seemed that the Bats weren't the type which would try to attack her physically, so she'd quickly dove through a hole in their encirclement to avoid getting shocked.

Rolling across the ground till she could roll back up to a crouching position, Noire looked up and saw Nevan having closed the distance between them, launching a back flip kick in her direction. She barely managed to avoid the foot in time, but she didn't notice the human sized pools of shadows appearing below her, so she remained unable to avoid the rising shadow blades which whacked into her, propelling Noire across the room once more.

'She-She's fast…!'

The blackette thought this despite the pain coursing through her front section. Whilst her clothes had a vertical horde through them, they soon knitted themselves back together by the time the black haired Goddess managed to recover, keeping her modesty preserved. Sliding across the ground to a halt, Noire held her HF Blade up and slashed upwards, barley managing to block a streak of Lightning sent to finish her off before she brought the same blade down, launching a VACUUM SLASH. Nevan simply hmphed, as she swiftly formed a shadow whip to slice through the attack with ease. Her free hand sparked a few times, with some shooting into the ground beneath her feet.

THAT ended up tipping Noire off to the Demon's follow-up attack, so she quickly jumped into the air to avoid the entire ground lighting up in purple Lightning. 'Gotta pull out the Handguns, I'll use my jump to my advantage!' the blackette thought, already springing into action. She flipped forwards, swapping out her HF Blade for Luce and Ombra (having to kick away a few lightning blasts with her DIVINE SHIELD enhanced feet too), before levelling them at Neven as Noir righted herself, then pulled the two triggers to shower her in bullets.

This resulted in the bats forming Nevan's shield and her dress to largely disperse, the Demon shrieking in surprise as she fell down.

'This is my chance!'

An opening presented itself as Noire fell down towards her, switching from Luce and Ombra to Ashbringer for the chance to launch a CRUSADER STRIKE at the downed Demon. She could see a similar hole of shadows quickly forming, which meant she didn't have a lot of time, so Noire had to act fast. Unleashing her ZANDATSU, Noire quickly slammed th blade into the woman upon her landing, dragging it diagonally across her front before switching to a horizontal and downward slash, then doing a diagonal slash which looked like the opposite of her initial one.

This would end up being enough though, as Noire saw her ability disperse right afterwards so she quickly jumped back before the hole could envelop her. She heard the tell-tale signs of the injuries erupting regardless though, as well as the pained screeches of Nevan which told her the attacks had done some damage. 'Yes! It worked!' the blackette thought in victory, a matching smug smirk tugging at her lips as she twirled towards where she sensed the Demon reappearing with Ashbringer ready for another round. 'Heh, lets see this bitch act all high and mighty now!' she added on with no small amount of eager anticipation, especially if she had caused that smirk of hers to be smacked clean off her face.

Something she got in spades when she saw the utterly pissed off look on the woman's face. Her torso had several bloody, steaming gashes from it as Demonic Energy in the form of a crimson glow surrounded them to try and heal the wounds. However, they were persisting thanks to the holy energy having already entered her body through them. Originally, Ashbringer's power was meant to best be used against Undead beings, but eventually according to the records she'd discovered from the Spec Ops branch in Leanbox, it apparently became effective against anything non-human. As if the sword itself had bathed in so much monster blood that anything not human would forever become haunted by this sword's very name. Kin of appropriate considering it being the sword which got forged at the founding of the Spec Ops Program.

In her eyes, this sword had been a sword which was meant to PROTECT the human race as a whole, and Noire felt goddamn like she had been right about that.

Suited her just fine, considering her position.

As for Nevan…

**"YOU… that SWORD… I see… so, YOU wanted MY attention, LIKE a little WHORE, did YOU? Well, THEN… now, you HAVE it WRRRRRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!"**

Utter fury formed over her features as Nevan, now fully recognizing Noire as a threat to her own being now, screeched an inhuman screech. She hadn't expected it, but that sword proved itself to be her worst enemy, for thanks to it she had much of her power drained in order to heal the wounds it had left on her during that moment of weakness. If it weren't for that sword, she wouldn't have given this worthless worm before her the time of day, but she had done the unthinkable in her eyes and had actually wounded her (chopping through her hair a bit too, even worse!), as such Nevan needed to teach this bitch a lesson in respect.

Something it would be doing in the next few moments.

Noire braced herself when she sensed something within the Demon's Demonic Power begin to change. More and more Bat swarms gathered around them, pouring forth from the shadows surrounding his very room like they were an unending flood trying to consume all light in this very room. More… and more… and MORE came, even reaching a point where even Noire got unnerved along with Siegfried inside her Dreamworld. All of them seemingly got attracted to the womanly Demon before her, whose eyes glowed a sinister crimson, like the eyes of a bloodthirsty predator eagerly awaiting the chance to pounce on its unsuspecting prey. Soon though, they became ALL that Noire could see as the massive concentration of bats completely concealed her form from view, leaving nothing but one big mass of flapping wings, angry shrieks and a whole load of Sparking Lightning… Wait, was that Lightning turning into a mix of Purple and Crimson?

'Had she been holding back on me this whole time?! Geez, this trope where the villain uses her full power when she gets mad gets real old real fast!' the blackette worriedly thought, annoyed yet nervous all the same. Even when she had first laid eyes on this Demon, the level of power she could feel from it instantly surpassed that of the previous Demons she had seen by far. If those Satanic Treasures Agni and Rudra, which at full power would have been equal to a multi continent class DPU, then this woman's power would have surpassed even that. It felt like the Bloodthirsters would have had a hard time trying to take her down should they want Nevan's Soul.

**"ALRIGHT sugar, LET us CONTINUE this little DANCE… shall WE?"**

From within the writhing mass of Bats, Nevan's voice echoed with a sinister, twisted undertone which pretty much screamed that Demonic Power would be at work here. Noire shuddered to herself, though she made sure the Demon didn't notice as she got her guard up. On her right arm, Raijin's Electricity crackled dangerously as she held Ashbringer, which began to glow in a semi-bright golden light as if it was responding to the threat of something inhuman nearby. Golden energy crackled along its form as well, similar in mannerisms to Raijin, with the two seemingly coming to an accord with how their energies seemed to overlap with one another and empower each other.

Definitely a sign that the next part of this battle would not be an easy one.

Moments later, did the mass act as it suddenly split itself apart, forming countless smaller groups which surrounded her, forming a dome of pure darkness. The only thing which Noire could see of them were their wild, erratic movements and their glowing eyes. Dozens of eyes barrelled down on her, Sparks of Lighting rolling off their forms whilst utterly isolating her from any chance of attacking their manipulator. If that wasn't bad enough, then how about Noire's senses also picking up gathering Demonic Energy within at least 80% of them? Yeah, that sounded like a worrisome threat.

'Okay… this is bad…'

_…Noire, behind you!..._

'Eh?!'

In the following instant, Noire's eyes widened when she sensed a build-up of Demonic Power behind her… then, the following millisecond a streak of purple/Crimson coloured Lightning slammed into her back with the force of a 100-megaton sledgehammer. A shrill cry escaped her lips when this happened as Noire stumbled, barely managing to regain her balance as a whole shower of Lightning Blasts followed suit. She'd even initially had to unleash her ZANDATSU to barely block the first 10 Lightning blasts with Ashbringer, before the technique dispersed and she had to swing with maximum speed (enforced by her LIGHT DRIVE) just to keep up with the continuous onslaught. Not only did speed get a boost just now, but also the strength of each attack felt like she were pushing back a pile of Mountains piling on top of one another. Her arms practically trembled with each blocked attack, just seconds away from giving in so she had to slash through them instead, though that in of itself remained a strenuous task.

If she thought that things couldn't get any worse, which she did, Noire soon found herself cursing herself heavily with so much bad language running through her mind that a certain Lowee CPU would be stunned. The reason? Simple, the dome the Bats made deformed into one big pool of shadows onto the ground, but right afterwards Noire barely managed to jump back in time when the whole thing instantly erupted with dozens upon DOZENS of twisted looking Spike formations. We're talking about formations which looked like they could ensnare several Bloodthirsters at once and have zero effort done to keep them there despite their eternal rage. It wasn't like they stopped at just that either, especially when these formations shifted and writhed like serpents, before lunging forth towards her like dozens of Tendrils.

As a result, even with Noire quickly shifting into her Dragonblood Form for an extra boost and activating several Light-based Skills from Ashbringer, Noire still ended up messed about by suffering a vicious blow to her right shoulder. She'd been defending herself from countless attacks against her person from all directions like a freaking badass, utilizing a mix between Ashbringer, her Tail, wings, and even launching some sneak attacks of her own through also summoning Balmung (learning she could still use them in Dragonblood Form). The thing was, she wouldn't normally have stooped to such levels since these swords were meant for her human form to use, not to mention Ashbringer seemed to HATE non-human beings wielding it since she always felt this numbing burning sensation from her hand holding the blade when in this form. However, she needed the extra defence, so she numbed the pain with Raijin's Lightning to help her endure the onslaught. For a short while, this seemed to work since she managed to keep the Sword usable in this form and keep her attackers at bay…

_…This is! Noire, quick! Get out of there-!…_

That is, until a moment later when, whilst she had been defending herself from the front against several spear-like lunges towards her front, Noire couldn't focus on what was behind her. Not even with her Tail since that limb had its hands full with repelling attacks from above her. As a result, one of those shadowy Tendrils pulled a fast one on her and, like a vicious coiled serpent suddenly lunging forth from within its nest to grasp onto its prey, stabbed into her right shoulder from behind.

SQUELCH-SPLATTER!

Blood exploded forth from the wound as the Dragon Scales gave way to the mighty piercing power of this shadowy Tendril, almost like they split aside to make way for it even though Noire knew that to not be the case. Her eyes bulged open in this form as she bit her tongue to keep from crying out, even whilst she swung both swords in her hands to deflect several follow-up attacks. 'ARGH! D-Darnit! This won't be enough to stop me…!' she thought, her sword and Tail movements beckoning more and more frantic as she saw her various enemies taking advantage of her momentary weakness to close on in. Not on her watch, though…

SPLATTER-SPLATTER-SPLATTER-SPLATTER-SPLATER!

However, this would not be the limit of the extent the Tendril would damage her, as it would soon go about quickly spawning countless spikes which ripped through the rest of her arm and internal organs like they were nothing but paper Mache. It had been all she could do to not scream as she was slammed into a nearby wall, then dragged along it a full 360 degrees, all before being tossed away like one of those old expired rag dolls.

"Kyaaaaaaaaa!"

Screams ripped themselves out of Noire's lips despite her best efforts to suppress them. All the while, her form bounced across the ground several times before landing on her front, rolling across it until her form slid to a halt. Her Dragonblood Form still persisted even in this state, which would be the sole reason why Noire still remained conscious… that, and how she'd quickly jumpstarted herself with a pulse of Raijin's lightning sent into her nerve system. Even so, the amount of sheer agony which enveloped her senses like a fiery hand gripping her very being in a vice felt like it would drive her into madness at any moment. The blood which poured out her arm and several holes in her body thanks to those spikes, started forming a puddle beneath her body as her wings curled inwards around her. Every cell in her body outright HOWLED within her eardrums to express the sorry state that they had been tangled up in.

Yet despite this downright awful state that she'd been put in, Noire still managed to process her sensing of approaching Demonic Energy signatures, which allowed her the motivation she needed to push through the pain to achieve what must have been necessary. Her eyes shot open as she looked towards the mass of black shadows, shadows which reverted to their bat forms and once more gathered around their mistress Nevan, who now loomed over her with two glowing eyes bearing down on the Goddess, nothing but mocking contempt burning within those infernal hell pits.

**"AHHHHH… Look at YOU… all CRIPPLED, weak and PATHETIC… just AS you SHOULD be, for CHALLENGING myself… NEVAN: the LIGHTNING witch…"**

Noire scoffed despite the state of extreme pain she found herself in, finding the strength to glare up at the approaching Demon whilst Bats encircled them, preventing any form of escape possible for the blackette not like she would have even considered it. Not when the stakes for her were so high. "Yeah, the 'Lightning' witch. All I've seen is you using those darn bats instead of attacking me yourself." She spat, and if she had the capacity to, she would have spat on the Demon's face, but Nevan had been elevated thanks to the Bats gathering beneath her to form an enlarged version of her Dress. "What, afraid to get up close and personal or something?"

**"IT is NOT to MY taste, LITTLE girl. I suppose IT is TOO bothersome FOR your PUNY little BRAIN to COMPREHEND, I guess. WHY should I dirty MY precious NAILS when I can DEAL from AFAR?" **

Stopping before the downed Goddess, Nevan grabbed onto her by the back of her head, then lifted her up to her level. Before she could think about striking back, the Demon simply switched hands, grabbing her by the front instead but remaining around her neck to choke her till she dropped her Swords. Ashbringer and Balmung fell to the ground with a pair of loud CLATTER sounds, before they vanished back into Noire's inventory of their own accord, If she were to try and summon them again however, she would have to get rid of the hand choking her right now, though that wasn't much of an option at this point. Leaning forwards, Nevan let loose a breath from her mouth, one which formed a purple cloud of condensed lighting that hovered in place between them… though, Noire didn't know how long that would last, only that it likely wouldn't be very long at all.

**"SINCE you HAVE been MILDLY entertaining... I think I will ENJOY a nice SNACK for NOW..."**

Before Noire could ask her what she meant by that, the blackette gasped then cried out in pain when Nevan sunk her fangs into her neck, moaning in slight pleasure as Noire felt her blood slowly being drained out of her body through them. The sounds of gulping could be heard alongside sucking ones, pretty much confirming what this redhead woman had been doing to her. 'Sh-She's... she's sucking my blood! She's a freaking Vampire!' Noire screamed in her mind, doing her best to avoid blacking out from how numb she had begun to feel.

This wasn't like that show where Vampires had glowing stars about them or were involved in some cheesy love triangle! This felt more like those Vampires who tried to turn an entire human village into one where they could live as a settlement! THOSE Vampires could send CHILLS down people's spines, especially with their eyes reminiscent off Ghouls!

Fortunately for her, Nevan didn't take too long to finish her little snack, and according to Noire's senses, when she pulled back the inhuman redhead before her actually felt like she had taken back some of her energy compared to before. It caused frustration to swell inside of Noire, especially since it basically entailed that she had partially wasted her efforts to damage her. Why would Nevan have been worried about damage when she could just suck her blood and regain her strength?

**"Since YOU will DIE shortly, I'll BE gracious AND let YOU in ON a LITTLE something: NO matter WHAT, any KIND of STYLE is SUITED on the BATTLEFIELD. The STRONG live, the WEAK die. THAT is the LAW of this WORLD."**

'Please, like I don't already know that…!' Noire thought in annoyance but considering her neck situation, she couldn't exactly show her internal emotions right now. She'd seen that truth as clear as day since a long time ago, so she didn't need to be lectured about it. That very lesson was the basis for why she had even became able to obtain the ability to Devil Trigger in the first goddamn place, if she had any means of quickly improving her HDD Form then she would have taken those options as well! Therefore, She REALLY didn't appreciate how this Demon lady was ridiculing her like a child over something so apparently known already.

Just then, a thought struck her as she realized just what she had thought just now.

'Wait… that's it…!'

Noire wasn't a fool, as this idea would be quite the risky endeavour, but this was one of the few options she had which she could use. Nevan had seen a lot of her attacks already, and as such a Demon as experienced as her would likely have anticipated her suddenly using them to strike her down. She could totally see the vampiric Demon stopping each one with her manipulation of Bats, then finishing Noire off herself, something which the CPU could sense would NOT be a painless death. Then again, what kind of death wasn't painless? She couldn't even THINK about using the last of her time remaining for a Devil Trigger either, since it felt like Nevan would definitely be able to resist its power. This Demon felt much stronger than the last ones she had fought, like her power had not waned in the slightest, remaining at top form even in the millennia she had been imprisoned here.

Right now, this would be her only shot.

One last chance…

Her final strategy, her last trump card…

Whelp, she'll bet it all on this last strategy of hers.

If Neptune were here, she'd compare it to that 'leeroy jenkins' suicide strategy she liked to employ in games.

**"However, I grow WEARY of this CONFLICT, as YOU call THIS. Perhaps I shall END it HERE and NOW. Farewell, CHILD…"**

Shaking her head in annoyance, Nevan finally decided to finish this little fight off already. After all, this so-called 'Goddess' could not even hold even the smallest candle towards the foes she had fought across her many millennia of existence. Things must have truly changed to an almost miserable level on the DPU Home world, not something she looked forward to seeing once the Temen-Ni-Gru would eventually be restored to its full glory, its full power and purpose realized.

Until then though, as much as it annoyed her to do it, she had to deal with brats like this who couldn't even be considered higher than 'greenhorns' yet still think they had what it took to navigate through it. Just went to show just how foolish people truly were these days…

Just as she made to strike Noire down by holding out her hand, having Bats spiral around it and form a Lance-like object to impale her through the heart… the Goddess struck.

She struck... and she struck hard.

"HAH!"

With one mighty war cry, Noire gathered a large amount of energy, pumped it into her right fist and with a loud BANG, slammed it into the Demon's face. The force of the punch had been enough to release a shockwave at the point of impact, one which expanded across the entire room as well as caused a few tremors. Obviously, given these feats what Noire had launched at Nevan wouldn't be regarded as a mortal punch. It had been a fast one too, too fast for Nevan to have caught it in her hand... Not like it mattered.

The reason for it to not have mattered would be due to the Demon tanking the hit... with a single bat floating in front of her face and releasing a wall of Lightning from its form, blocking the punch and distilling its force into the air around her. As the woman's hair settled back into place from the shockwaves however, she looked down at the Dragonified Goddess in her grasp, a look of silent mockery about her features matched by the slight upturning of her lips, showing her sharp fangs.

**"Was THAT the BEST you could ACHIEVE? What a WASTE..."**

Whilst Nevan gloated at how weak and pathetic Noire's punch was to it, having only taken at least about 10% of her power to block, she looked towards the owner of the fist as the arm fell to her side. Nevan expected something else to be on her face... not the look of victory that Noire sported. "Heh, shows what you know, bitch." she snarled. "HAH!"

In that moment, Noire's right leg launched itself upwards as her ZANDATSU activated, slowing the perception of time for her down to 80%. The thing was, her leg had an... interesting component to it, something which Nevan saw seconds before the object reached her... the blackette's HF Blade. To the Demon's shock, it had been grasped by her right foot and thus, resulted in being held like she held it in her own hands. Not only that, but the Satanic Treasure Raijin began to spark in an even more violent, chaotic manner than it had ever done before. Its form became the very centre of what could only be described as an electrical storm whilst sparks travelled up the user's arm, down her back, and down the leg towards the already crackling HF Blade. As a result, the whole weapon turned into a LITERAL sword made entirely from chaotic electricity as Noire swung her leg upwards, her ZANDATSU combined with Nevan's surprise making her unable to react in time.

Not for what followed.

FWOOOSH!

BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Thanks to the kick that Noire launched, a massive diagonal slash made from pure electricity ripped itself through Nevan's body, much to the Demon's shock. It had been too fast for her to react in time, mostly due tot he Dragonblood Form's boost in physical ability amplifying the strength and speed behind the attack. Pain soon followed thanks to the spars rushing through her body and completely immolating it from the inside out, though it wasn't like she could scream anymore. Her eyes shot open wide whilst her pupil trembled violently, like someone going through a spas attack. All the while, the last thing her eyes and brain managed to process lay around her right arm, to be more specific the cracks beginning to form over its being. The following seconds, a massive explosion encased the two, shaking the entire Opera House with how much force it generated.

Moments later, a certain female Goddess got ejected out of the explosion's blast radius, one which had shot right upwards and pierced through the top of the Opera House right up to the very surface above.

It had been Noire... or rather, what could barely be recognized of her. Her body looked to have been charred black, her mouth wide open as smoke rolled out of there as well as several parts of her body, Her right arm looked like a twisted, mangled mess though, bent at multiple locations whilst her left arm looked like it had only been bent once. Numerous wounds of varying degrees of lethality had been formed on her person, with a lot of them spewing large amounts of blood which splattered onto the ground below her whilst she flew. Fortunately, her little neck accessory survived, so whilst her clothes looked to have been heavily damaged, exposing 80% of her skin, the outfit would still be able to reform eventually. Though, whether or not Noire would recover enough as well...

As she crashed down in a mangled heap onto the ground, rolling across it until she slammed back first into one of the Opera House's walls with a loud THUD. She should have let out a sharp gasp as she slid down the wall to the ground below, but right now that last attack and the violent aftermath had pretty much drained the last of her willpower to stay conscious. No matter how hard she tried, she would not be able to escape this outcome, not even if she tried to access Demonic Power, which proved to be impossible at the moment. The last thing she managed to see before embracing the bliss of oblivion, would have been something purple flying towards her whilst something cracking could be heard.

Finally, her eyes closed without any thoughts racing through her mind, and unconsciousness claimed her.

* * *

**Chapter end**

**Whelp, looks like Noire got owned, and by a Demon lady dissing her looks at that. That's got to be humiliating for her, especially since she's so uptight and prideful about her image. Having someone insult that would definitely piss her off beyond reason, but anyways here's what has went down.**

**To any who may be wondering, I'm aware that Nevan has a specific weakness to ice, it was stated so in the fight guide I found for her, though I never used it much when I first fought her. However, what I'm trying to show is something which will be explained in more depth next chapter. However, suffice to say that it involves Rik and her Devil Trigger state, something I'm sure a lot of you would have noted she didn't use very much, I'll explain it better next chapter.**

**Also, Nevan was amped up in terms of power scaling in OEG compared to her original counterpart. She had her move set expanded, her powers increased to a higher tier, and as such she became an opponent which Noire had to pull a Leeroy Jenkins suicide strategy to be able to defeat. As such, whilst her strategy seems to have worked, there will be some consequences as a result of this, ones which will again be explained in the next chapter. I hope none of you are offended by how much I literally tore Noire apart in this chapter, but I feel like this could be an appropriate answer to any who don't like how she has a Devil Trigger. I'm going to portray it in a manner which will not be like other powers that she possesses, as in terms of complexity the Devil Trigger outranks her other forms by far. **

**Not only this, but thanks to this battle, a few changes to Noire's battle capabilities will have happened too, things I've been hinting at a few times which I've been eagerly awaiting the chance to write down. In any case, hope you guys like the chapter, and i'll see you in the next one. **

**Peace Out!**


	22. Chapter 22 - Problems Arising

**Chapter 22 - Problems Arising**

Outside the Temen-Ni-Gru Tower, one could only call the events happening to be carnage incarnate.

Not something which someone like her preferred, however according to past experiences an Agent should be prepared to be thrown into the thick of battle at any given circumstance. Nothing would ever truly go her way; a lesson she had thought she'd learned the hard way BEFORE the whole Coalition mess had started. However, upon entering the Spec Ops world, she had to curse her previous self for being so arrogant.

As such, Lid remained calm and composed whilst she dished out as much lead as she could against her overwhelmingly large umber of adversaries. Adversaries which just didn't know when to quit, since they never stopped decreasing in numbers once Noire had gone back inside the Tower to deal with that Demon which had been hindering Lid's progress.

Whilst she fought off her attackers, Lid's lips curled downwards into a conflicted frown, her lone eye narrowed as thoughts began to circulate through her mind. Part of her wondered if Noire would even keep her word in slaying the Demon, something which her past self would have gawked at her and furiously labelled her a filthy heretic. However, that would have been her past self, Lid's current self wasn't nearly as religious as she had once been. She'd seen too much to retain that fanatical religious belief in the CPUs any longer.

As such, Lid didn't hold them on as high a pedestal as she once did, which became the basis for her doubting Noire's legitimacy for her desire to change. Though, right now she didn't have the necessary time to wallow in these thoughts, not when she had dozens of enemies bearing down on her with nothing on their minds but reaping her very soul from this world.

Like she'd let them have that opportunity, though.

Spraying bullets everywhere through her twin machine guns, Lid stepped about the battlefield outside, with demonic Hell Prides assaulting her from every corner. Not a second passed which wasn't filled with her moving, either through minor actions like shifting her gaze throughout the battlefield, or more noticeable ones like moving one bodypart or even her whole body to either dodge or block the many attacks aimed at her person. She would regularly flip herself about like a monkey, expertly weaving in and out of the enemy ranks like a silent wraith and leaving nothing but bloody chunks in her wake. Chunks which vanished into particles seconds later. Sometimes though she got some light scratches here and there, but thanks to her immense speed, speed which surpassed the threshold for an average Guild Agent, Lid managed to mitigate these injuries to the lighter side, making it so she wouldn't be hindered by them too much in the field of battle.

As her mentor once taught her: use everything around you to your advantage, and if possible, use the shadows. The concealing darkness will always be your ally.

She couldn't exactly implement this in a large, open space, but the first part she could.

Lid, as the bonded partner to an Assassin-Type Heroic Spirit, utilized the training she had gone through under its instruction, combining it with the weapons provided by her Spec Ops Mentor whom even her partner would consider someone who he could respect. Well, aside from the no killing rule he imposed on himself whenever humans were the targets, but then again her partner could be described with the following words: a nature that was both compassionate and discreet; thus it was said that, while his body was a summit as a shinobi, his mentality was not fit for a shinobi and he spent his days secluded in his room.

Still, his training methods helped her become a better field agent, and as such Lid decimated these enemy Demons with ease, rapidly switching through her arsenal in a furious but effective manner which revolved around pistols, handguns, machine guns, knives, throwing knives, grenades, bombs, flashbangs, any kind of tool used for infiltration and combat, Lid had plenty of in her Inventory. That didn't even take into account the various gadgets that her Mentor had provided her as a means of being a proper representative of him as his student.

'Even so, still not going to try and dress up like his clan of old though, even if a lot of Mercenary groups paled in comparison to those guys…' Lid thought to herself, shivering when she recalled how her partner had 'argued' (more like whined similar to a child) with her on changing her outfit to something more ninja-like (mostly because he said his clan's gear looked cooler). She preferred her own clothes thank you very much, they were quite comfy and easy to move around in!

However, as she continued to fight these enemies… She began to notice how they were STILL not slowing down in the slightest, quite the opposite in fact, their numbers actually kept on increasing. Her eye narrowed at this whilst, during a flip, she pressed a button on her eyepiece and analysed the surroundings, picking up signals still approaching the vicinity until she landed. She had to roll across it to avoid several Scythes though, and even then, she had to back flip to avoid a scythe swing from the rear by a Hell Lust. 'The situation is worsening. Enemies are still surrounding me, my weapon loadouts are running dry, and my stamina has been significantly depleted. Mission imperatives are gradually becoming more difficult to accomplish…' She thought, already feeling the burn, if her panting chest was any indication. 'If a solution is not found, then I fear my mission will be in jeopardy…!'

To fail in her current mission would be the absolute worst-case scenario, as it would have led to countless unnecessary deaths with the killer roaming scot free, able to do as he pleased with no repercussions. Due to her… connection, with the culprit, Lid knew just what kind of man that Arkham was. Avenir would be considered a secondary evil to someone like him, who has not just a God complex but also the ability and resources to act on such a complex. Thus, she absolutely REFUSED to let this mission be deemed a failure, she refused to let all the Agents and good soldiers sent to apprehend him, only to end up being KIA for his sick experiments, to have died in vain. She refused to let such a tragedy happen again, that was the oath she had sworn to herself, that had been the drive which had even resulted in her stumbling upon and bonding with the Heroic Spirit she called partner currently.

On that note, she had to think of a solution to this growing problem… and one just clicked into place.

'There's one of my Last resorts… Let's see, I've slain many o them, but their numbers haven't decreased in the slightest.' Lid thought as she analysed her approaching Demonic opponents. Her Lone eye narrowed as her eyepiece began scanning their numbers, sowing them to her in the form of Data. 'Looks like they haven't surpassed 200 yet, which means I can end them in one shot. Furthermore, it appears that they are drawn here by the corpse that Lady Black Heart left behind… alright, initial objective: destroy the enemies in one fell swoop. I'll be drained for a bit, but I should be able to pull it off with what energy I have.'

A pulse ran through her heart, one which felt unlike anything her own heart could ever generate. Feeling it brought a smirk of excitement onto Lid's face as she clutched her fist, prepping herself for her next attack. She knew who this pulse belonged to, and she got a sense of agreement from it, pretty much confirming that her partner, a boy of few words yet had boundless expression unbefitting of someone of his nature, followed her thought process. 'Alright then, lets initiate the offensive.'

"#INHALE#, #EXHALE#... Well then, here's my trump card #1, the great flames of hell, namely, pandemonium: IMMORTAL CHAOS BRIGADE!"

When Lid called that out, she held her right hand upwards, pointing it towards her enemies as if reaching out to grab them. All the while, her body shuddered as her hand started to glow a faint orange, Lid already feeling the power of this Anti-Army Noble Phantasm taking place, as everything around them, the city, the ground, all of it became nothing but darkness, a massive hollow void. Only the Demons and that Corpse remained, which was fine since Lid had that as part of her intentions. She would finish this in one fell swoop, and with that in mind she clutched her hand into a fist, watching the magic happen before her (even if she wasn't one for Magic).

All around them a glowing orange ring formed around the Demons and the corpse, one which would be so hot that when a Hell Pride tried to step on it, the Demon howled in pain as it stumbled backwards, the sheer heat from the circle leaving it with a NASTY burn on its foot. From that ring though, Lid smirked when all of a sudden over 200 phantasmal bodies made entirely from flame arose up, each of them formless yet still carrying all sorts of weapons on their person. One couldn't even tell their gender at this stage, only that they were wreathed in searing flames which lit up the darkness like a light beacon in a storm… as well as made the Demons nearly wet themselves in fear of what would happen next.

As the 200 bodies descended on their prey, everything became a roaring hell filled with agonized cries…

* * *

Moments later, Lid fell down onto one knee, the Noble Phantasm having disappeared once its task had been completed. In front of her, not a single Demon remained, nor was there ay sign of the corpse that Noire had left behind on her hunt for the Demon inside the Temen-Ni-Gru. Not even the reinforcing Demons dared to come out at this time, as remnants of energy generated by the Noble Phantasm could still be felt in the atmosphere. That, and even their twisted souls had been shaken down to their very FOUNDATIONS thanks to the spectacle of seeing their brethren getting burned down to nothingness in every sense of the word.

'Ugh… Guh… Ugh… objective accomplished… forgive me mentor, however I had no choice but to use it…' the Agent thought to herself, as memories played in her mind. She remembered when she first showed her Spec Ops Mentor how this Noble Phantasm, the Immortal Chaos Brigade, worked on an army of up to 200 people. Apparently, this Noble Phantasm couldn't actually be called that of the Heroic Spirit, but more like one belonging to the entire group instead of just one person. The reason for this, was that it summons his 200 subordinates as spiritual bodies, automatically turns the surroundings of the enemy group into darkness and throw them into a hell of agonizing cries. This originated from how the user, together with 200 thugs, the Heroic Spirit that was employed by a Leanbox Noble Clan, infiltrated into the encampment of a rival Loweean Army and indiscriminately murdered wounded soldiers, plundered weapons and provisions, and dumped fire here and there while raising war cries. Those night raids that continued every day and night forced the Lowee army into retreat.

However, upon noticing how much the Noble Phantasm drained Lid of her energy, her Mentor had issued her a rule, to only use it when she absolutely had to, and that she would be sure to target every enemy in the vicinity. In his experience, a scenario where this could bcackfire would be where Lid somehow failed to destroy all the enemies, either due to not noticing their exact numbers correctly or some of them being strong enough to withstand the Noble Phantasm's attack. Either way, an enemy could exploit the moment of vulnerability that she had once she used it, so she had to 'make the shot count 100%'. As they'd agreed on it.

Good thing this Heroic Spirit came with 2 Noble Phantasms, although she had to initially do several tasks in order to unlock the second, at least THAT one didn't have as strict a rule imposed on it by her Mentor.

Not to mention that it seemed that the other Demons no longer felt like it being the best shot they had in killing her, once they saw how powerful Immortal Chaos Brigade was, which gave her plenty of time to rest and recover her energy. Fortunately, she had the help of several healing items, such as Nep Bull, Hero Drinks etc to restore it quickly, but a little rest would still be needed. The energy consumption an Anti-Army Noble Phantasm used would NOT be a joke, something Lid had MORE than ample experience to use as proof when saying this.

'I wonder how Lady Noire handles her Noble Phantasm… my partner said that she has a similar type to mine but the energy expenditure is slightly bigger. She must have decently large energy reserves if she could keep on wielding it for as long as she does…' the silverette thought to herself, before moments later feeling something wash over her. Not just her, but the entire Temen-Ni-Gru at that, somethings he quickly came to the conclusion of. 'This feeling…! That Demon must have been slain by Lady Black Heart! She kept her word!' Now THAT would be information which raised her spirits and morale. Having high amounts of both would be crucial to completing her mission, so with that out the way Lid got to her feet and turned towards the Tower.

She had a job to do, and thanks to Noire she would be able to do it.

* * *

Meanwhile…

The moment Noire opened her eyes, the first thing her brain registered fully when it rebooted itself, would be PAIN, and not just a small amount of it, but pain which lit her entire body up like a furnace. She didn't gasp though, especially since it wasn't like she actually could, but even so she managed to get her eyes open. Pain would be nothing to her for her line of work, a little pain wouldn't even be anything noteworthy in her eyes. That would be what she chanted to herself to keep going with her immediate task of finding out her surroundings. The last thing she recalled was fighting against Nevan, and thus if she still resided within that Opera House, she would need to get going so she could regroup with Lid. Someone she believed 100% would have advanced deeper into the Tower by now.

After more than a dozen attempts, each one having resulted in her rapidly closing them again, Noire finally managed to open her eyes to view her location. Whilst hr vision remained blurry at first, it quickly cleared up, so that wasn't any issue. When she looked around, Noire quickly came to the conclusion that she had woken up inside her Dreamworld. The reasoning there being how she'd become surrounded by a massive, lush forest with a sky as clear as day itself. This could only have come from her Dreamworld, though the fact that she had woken up here puzzled her. 'Okay, WHY am I here exactly…?' she wondered whilst trying to get up. Her muscles and cells screamed in protest at this however, so she decided to rest for the time being. Her body felt like it would be even more damaged should she try to move further, and if there was one thing she had learned from this ordeal, it would have been to not overexert her body when any second she could be ambushed and slaughtered as easily as one breathed air.

"Finally, your awake. Took you long enough, for someone who is both Goddess and Demon you sure take your time…"

Just then, Noire heard the familiar voice of a certain Appetite Demon, and he did not sound very happy. Mentally, she groaned as she tried to sit up again, only this time she barely managed to make it before her body gave out again, resulting in her sitting upright with her head hanging low, her bangs falling beside and in front of her face. For a moment, Noire took a few breaths to calm her painfully pounding heart, before she weakly looked up to see the massive man standing not too far from her. He had his arms crossed like a stern lecturer, with a similar facial expression being aimed at her. "Rik…"

Hearing her say his name seemed to spark something within the large man, as he conjured the same chair which he had been using on the beach-like section of this Dreamworld. Sitting down on it with one foot raised and placed on top of his thigh, Rik levelled his stare towards her. "Look at you, acting all cocky before and this is what happens. Well, since you obviously have a bit of a big hard head similar to a rhinoceros, I'll explain the dumb shit which has befallen you in several parts so your pea sized brain can comprehend this shit."

Her head pulsed with a flash of pain, causing Noire to wince. It got made all the worse with the scolding that came her way, but she had been in too much pain to properly rebuke Rik for his words. "Ugh… Well, anyways, you… you know where… Siegfried is? Is he… alright?" she questioned barely, it hurt her to even speak right now. Just how could she even continue with this kind of pain? She may have to bite her tongue more times than necessary to endure it enough to carry on.

"That guy?" Rik questioned, momentarily blinking before a slight chuckle escaped his lips. "There's that 'helping others' crap you two like to brag on about. Kind of a waste in my opinion, but if you want to know he's back in his Castle, leaving you with me for the time being. Oh yeah, calm your tits, he's doing fine, albeit he needs to rest but meh that's not important." Noire OH so wanted to correct him on that one, but before she could he stopped her by continuing. "Anyways, what's most important is you: you fucked up, you know that, right?"

At this, despite her pained state, Noire bristled at him. She barley restrained herself from yelling at him as that would have only made her condition even worse. "Wh-What are you… talking about…?" she questioned him with gritted teeth, not something which Rik felt very threatened by, though.

Instead, the man shook his head with an exasperated sigh. "I'm talking about your little 'scuffle' with that bitch Nevan, here. She may have been a bitch, but she shouldn't have given you as hard a time as she did. You had SEVERAL advantages that she lacked, but because of your recklessness in charging ahead without FIRST understanding the power you possess, you couldn't implement them nearly as well as you could have. Thus, you had to use a goddamn suicide strategy which may as well have crippled you, plus get all of us in you killed. Sure, would have done that if it weren't for some timely intervention, if you ask me." Rik explained, irritation flowing off him in waves. "Your pain right now? That's the LEAST of your worries."

This time, irritation burst within her chest at the Appetite Demon's attitude. Not only was he dissing her, he did so when he KNEW she wouldn't be able to argue back. As such, Noire glared like daggers at him, but Rik brushed her off without a care in the world whilst continuing his speech. "What I mean by this, is that this pain your feeling is ACTUALLLY a representation of at least 10% of what your ACTUAL body out there is experiencing. If you think its bad right now, considering what your real body is going through right now, if it weren't for that glowey swordstick you called Ashbringer currently straining itself to repair your body, you'd have expired before you'd even known what happened. Heck, even ol' Siggy himself was partially effected by the damage released by your good ol' Lightning gauntlet, and thus is recovering, so right now its just you and me sunshine."

Now, THIS information transformed a large amount of Noire's anger into shock and disbelief as she took in what he told her. Because of her pained condition, she couldn't actually show how much shock she was really feeling, but due to their link Rik didn't even NEED to look at her to feel it. Hearing how her pain right now was actually TEN PERCENT of the pain which her current body had been reduced to, really sent shivers of dread down her spine. Not only that, but even Siegfried needed time to recover from it, as if the battle had actually damaged him as a Heroic Spirit somehow. She sort of became thankful she'd awoken in her Dreamworld first, cause if she were to have awoken to this kind of pain FIRST, then she feared she may lose herself to psychotic madness.

No joke.

That just went to pretty much nail the hammer on the head for how much she had messed herself up during that battle… as much as her pride tried to make her refuse to admit it, the look which Rik gave her essentially shut those attempts down faster than time took to pass by in a second.

Seeing her like this, Rik kept his gaze on her for a long while, just so Noire could easily sink in the revelation of the consequences to her actions. Though, he wasn't quite done just yet. "If you think that's it, oh I'm just getting started. For you see, your little stunt actually drew out WAY more power than Raijin could withstand. Lemme explain, Raijin's a demonic ranked Satanic Treasure, but you cannot even BEGIN to draw out its full power. This is actually due to the restraints on the Satanic Treasure itself, cause if one were to draw out the violent power within carelessly… yeah, it'll destroy anything around it, even itself. For a time, you didn't need to worry about this cause, you know, you being careful and all that shit. Sadly, in that battle you forcefully pulled out way more power than you could safely control, which caused one heck of a massive power surge which fried Nevan like you wanted… but also your Satanic Treasure, RIP Raijin."

Memories flowed into Noire's mind, memories which remained vague, cloudy and distorted, but she could make out the clear audible cracking sounds they carried, just before she had fallen unconscious. That had to have been her Satanic Treasure overloading itself essentially, from Noire's excessive use of its powers in that one moment. As such, when Noire tried to feel out Raijin's presence within herself, she found nothing but emptiness, all but confirming the man's words.

"But wait, there's more, and the final nip in the bud if you ask me." Whilst she lost herself in thoughts, Rik brought her back for the final push. "When I say you had advantages, I meant your Devil Trigger. If you had just accessed it before the battle could have started which you SHOULD have, you'd have so many different elements on your side: fire, ice, Wind, sound, you'd have clobbered her with Chaoseater in no time flat. Nevan was a pussy bitch, one which Chaoseater would have had zero trouble in ripping to shreds. Unfortunately, you, like a dumbass, didn't even try to come here when you first Devil Triggered, you instead thought you knew everything and rushed on ahead to help someone else. As a result, you barely even used a power you had little understanding of and thus got yourself whooped up the ass. And for what? Someone who doesn't even completely trust you?" At this point, Rik gave a derisive scoff as he shook his head in intense disappointment. "Pathetic and stupid."

At this point, the anger and humiliation she felt inside reached a breaking point, and when that last comment got mentioned, it erupted inside her chest. "ENOUGH!" She yelled outright, not even caring about the flares of pain which roared from within in the aftermath. All she did instead, was glare heatedly at Rik who glared back. "You can insult me, demean me and ridicule me all you want. But I won't forgive anything regarding my helping of my people! Even if she doesn't trust me, I'll just earn it! There are just some situations which require action and not just words, and this one had been one requiring the former alright?!" At the end there the pain eventually overwhelmed her will to resist it, resulting in her clutching her chest with a pained expression mixing with the persisting angry one Noire sported. Even so, she refused to take back what she said nor would she back down to her Appetite Demon. There was a time and a place for that stuff, and right now wasn't one of those.

For a long time, seemingly eternity, the two beings stared each other down, refusing to give in. Sparks could literally be seen flying between the two of them, and they weren't sparks of attraction or anything similar to that kind of thing. Instead, it looked more like these two would eventually come to blows at any moment, yet neither of them seemed to relent even if they knew this possibility. Neither of them would relent on their ideals, nor would they ever lose this stare down. One could say that this would be due to their equally stubborn nature, but if they vocalized these opinions… nobody wanted to think on what might have happened in that case.

This stare-down luckily didn't last for NEARLY as long as it felt like though, in reality it actually only lasted about 10 seconds… until Rik's lips curved upwards into a pleased smirk. He nodded to himself in satisfaction, though Noire made sure not to show her surprise to the Demon. "Heh, good. You can still fight for your ideals even under your piss poor condition. Guess you still have SOME latent potential yet." He commented as the atmosphere's tension dropped so fast one might consider a cube of ice the size of a hand had been melted onto it.

On Noire's end, the blackette heaved a sigh of her own, ignoring the painful pangs in her chest for the moment as she fought to bear the pain assaulting her body from the rest of her injured body parts. Thanks to the adrenaline of being humiliated verbally, Noire had been able to ignore it better, but now that she'd settled the argument somewhat, even though neither of them ever truly gave up their ideals and likely never would, she no longer could ignore the pain she found herself in. That had been one heck of an ordeal for her, and she had just awakened from an exhausting battle. She felt both physically and mentally drained thanks to this matter, but it did manage to get her to think about a few things. 'Still…' she began to think in order to try and take her mind off it. 'Through all of that, Rik did indeed have one thing right: what I did was indeed reckless and did nearly make me kick the bucket. I have to make sure that I don't have to take such risks in the future, not just for myself but for those who… c-c-consider me a c-c-c-comrade as well…' Even in her thoughts, the word Comrade, which she related to the word 'friend' caused her to stammer in shy embarrassment.

"Still, I guess some congratulations are in order."

Just when she thought that Rik had finished her, him suddenly speaking to her proved Noire wrong as the blackette looked up to him. At this, she managed to see him smirk at her, his eyes having a much less threatening vibe to them, instead sporting vibes of bloodthirsty excitement. "Thanks to your little stunt, we've gone through quite the development process. For one, your damaging of Nevan forced her to relinquish her soul to us just as the Raijin destroyed itself. Because of your state though, instead of being able to absorb the soul, the soul actually fused with one of your weapons instead since Ashbringer already appearing over you to help heal your injuries prevented it from being devoured. Even the remains of the Raijin fused with it, resulting in the evolution of one of your swords." He explained, holding out his hand for her as if to offer her a help up.

Though, Noire instinctively knew this to not be the case, and would be proven right in the next second when Demonic Power seeped out of it. The power surged out like a pillar, before it condensed itself and formed into a transparent, 3D Hologram which constantly spiralled in a clockwise rotation in front of her. The hologram itself, took the form of a sword… one Noire had NEVER seen before in her life, and yet in a paradox-like manner she couldn't help but feel a sense of familiarity, of kinship, with the weapon.

The holographic sword's blade looked to be at least three feet long but just one inch wide, being completely blood-red in colour. Along the crimson blade, there grew 6 curved blade protrusions similar to a seven-pronged sword, each of them looking like they could tear through metal with practiced ease. The sword seemed to have a pure black guard, similar to everlasting darkness, which concealed the blade's base, ending in a V shape which the blade protruded from. All the while, there were these purple circular jewels embedded in it's centre, one bigger one below the smaller one. The handle looked like it could be used in two hands not just one too, with black metal forming the grip, whilst the sword itself, even in the holographic state, seemed to constantly radiate a cloud of purple miasma, sparks of lightning flickering over the blade similar to another sword she knew.

In essence, the blade looked like what some would describe an enchantress: beautiful but deadly.

But still… Why did she feel like she knew this blade from somewhere?

"This my dear, is your HF Blade, it was used as a base for this sword's form, transforming into a new level. Although some aspects, like that nifty HF Technology, were simply enhanced to higher levels, giving this little beauty one HELL of a cutting edge. Its even double edged, how about that?! Anyways, now that these two demonic elements have fused with it, this sword has truly become the epitome of Lightning itself, with the top Jewel continuing its Lightning core from where it generates its power." Rik explained, before gesturing to the smaller one. "That other one? Oh, that's just a nice little pocket dimension which stores a MASSIVE amount of Bats for you to use as you see fit, similar to what Nevan did, as well as a small core for darkness manipulation but by comparison to the others it's a bit inferior. At most you'd likely be only capable of doing small feats with it, but hey you never know. Oh yeah, since its origins were vampiric in nature, this bad boy also absorbs the blood and souls of its victims through prolonged physical contact, making it stronger. A true Vampire this one, but more than enough to go toe to toe with your other weapons."

Noire eyed the blade as she heard Rik's words, her eyes becoming smaller and smaller the more she heard. Whilst she felt a bit pissed that the bitch Nevan took over her HF Blade and transformed it along with Raijin, it was something that was given to her by a trusted person after all, she did admit the power boost would come in handy. She could sense from the hologram alone just how much power the sword could possess, and the thought that it wouldn't lose out to her other ones filled her with hope for future battles. If there were other Demons she would have to fight on a similar level as Nevan, she'd need all the help she could get.

"Now, before you get your hopes up…" Rik began, shattering Noire's thought process as she aimed a flat stare at him, not like he cared. "Right now, this sword's power would be like a mix between a Devil Arm and a Satanic Treasure. I'd say if it were the latter, it'd at least be about Demonic Ranked, and like I mentioned before, you won't be able to draw out this sword's full power for the time being. No need to fret though, I'd say you can handle it at a continent class level, AKA Mortal Rank which is at least half the power. Once you have sufficient prowess over your Devil Trigger will you wield its full power. I'll be the judge of that, and whilst we're on the subject…"

In that moment, Rik suddenly vanished, causing Noire to gasp when she saw him appear right before her. He stared deep into her eyes, and the close proximity of their faces made Noire flush red with embarrassment. Her eyes trembled as her face grew redder and redder… until he pulled away with a smirk on his lips. "Heh, well I'll be your coach on it for now. Since you managed to use it freely multiple times now, I'll be instructing you on the Devil Trigger, as well as the ways of the Devil. Who knows, maybe you'll be able to develop some techniques whilst you're here. Oh, but best apply them outside, this place isn't exactly fit for physical combat training. Maybe either make those Demons of yours useful for something, or perhaps compete in a secret mission to earn something you CAN use for physical training. Anyways, since you can speak, I'd say that your glowey light sword is about 30% complete in healing your sorry ass, so let's begin, shall we?"

* * *

So, whilst Noire would be recovering from her battle with Nevan…

Deeper within the Temen-Ni-Gru…

Both Vicious and Arkham, the latter leading the former, walked through a… very lavish-looking, blue corridor. Behind him, Vicious looked as apathetic as ever, with his arms tied behind his back as if he were nobility being escorted through a large plain by a regiment of devoted guards. Not only that, but his body radiated a thin layer of Demonic Power, manifesting as a skin-like barrier around him which sort of made him much harder to approach for normal people. Not like his current company would be regarded as 'normal' though. Meanwhile on the other side of things, Arkham had his signature book in hand, whilst his eyes held a look of restrained excitement even with that neutral look he had on his face. The shifting of his burn scar didn't really help hide his true emotions at the moment. His excitement wouldn't be unfounded though since they had come a long way to achieving this goal and they'd be damned if they let anything stop them. Before them, the two approached a massive, rectangular pair of doors. Where they would lead to, only these two men would know, and it wasn't like they would be speaking about it to anyone soon.

"Soon, we shall reach the Lair of Judgement. Temen-Ni-Gru will finally reach its full function and lead us into the Demon World of Slaanesh it is connected to."

These words escaped Arkham's nearly lipless mouth as two finally stopped before the door. Vicious himself wordlessly acknowledged this as he viewed the obstacle standing before him with no small amount of distain, though it wasn't like he could just hack away at it since this entire Tower was ripe with dozens of different Demonic Wards, which could prove an annoyance to him if he pulled any funny business. This door would be a perfect example. The door itself would be at least as large as an 8-foot-tall giant, with various carvings of a demonic nature drawn into them. Not to mention countless different locking mechanisms to give it this mechanical yet mind-breakingly complex appearance. It would prove that only those who truly possessed the drive and the resolve to further their goals would be able to figure out the way through, and these two men could be counted as such people. Especially with their own internal motivations, kept hidden for their own reasons.

As for Wards, upon expanding his senses, Vicious detected no less than 600 different Wards placed on this Door, each one with a unique function yet still interweaving with one another to make a near impenetrable obstacle. To Vicious, of he didn't have such a dire situation on his hands, he would have just tried to blow up this damn Tower for all the annoyance it caused him, priceless treasures and knowledge be damned. It wasn't like the Tower itself had any value to him, he had pretty much everything he could ever need on his person. Unlike many DPUs scattered across the Devildimension, he didn't have much of a care for useless things money, pleasure, or fame. Even so, there was only ONE reason why he didn't do what he wanted to in his thoughts to the Temen-Ni-Gru, and that reason would take time to accomplish, much to his annoyance. However, he had learned long ago through countless battles how to rein in his Temper, savouring his emotions for the perfect moment.

Whilst he began to think this, Arkham had stepped forwards whilst looking the door up and down. Vicious had long ago learned how this once pathetic mortal man, through research into the broken lore which landed here during some scuffles he didn't care for, uncovered some of the secrets behind DPU Wardcraft. Enough to comprehend and understand many complex arrays and Ward formations which made him much more useful than a common tool or a whore, since Vicious needed a pathetic, wretched frail being like him (as much as it disgusted him to admit it) to safely navigate the Tower without setting off Wards left and right.

THAT would be one hell of an experience, and way too annoying to go through.

Unaware of his thoughts, but all too aware of his distaste for him, Arkham opened his book to a particular page. He scanned the contents as if it were a research document he once had made, in one of his formerly active Laboratories, all the while using his free hand to reach for the door itself. Before them both, dozens of pure crimson lines emerged from nothingness, glowing so brightly that they would illuminate the surrounding areas for several meters. These lines formed immensely complex shapes, diagrams, graphs etc, making one massive web which covered the entire Door. Each piece of it being more than several different Wards placed there. His hand reached forth towards one near the base and the centre of the door, moving through and across it as if he were typing a secret code into it or something. "The World in which you seek more than anything else, a world which you yourself have never been able to locate through other means…"

"I would watch my words, if I were you." Vicious coldly stated, yet the harsh and angry undertones could still be felt deep within. The level of coldness and blade-like danger emitting from his tone could be felt as his energy swayed in a violent, borderline chaotic manner like a deadly serpent about to lunge towards its prey. Not to mention how the area around them suddenly felt like it was trying to suffocate the Scholar. Though, he didn't put on much of a reaction to this change in situation and instead focused more on the Wards. However, he did keep an ear out for what Vicious said next. "There are simply things you should not be concerned with. Any more out of that and you will find yourself… let's just say one head short."

"Apologies then, Master."

With Arkham's apology given, the other man held his glare for a moment, trying to see if he could make the man sweat. When it became clear that wouldn't work, the man glanced back at the Wards whilst reigning in his aura. The effects became instantaneous, as the air around them instantly became breathable once more, with the man's aura returning to its skin-layer like form. That done, Arkham continued his work, mentally remarking to himself the following thoughts. 'With the connection between these two godly beings, it must be fate for it to be him to be the one to lift the seal on the Tower…' It always amused him how these two beings, beings of such unimaginable power that it almost made his knees buckle, could be so petty with their powers that they felt belonged to them. It annoyed him immensely, as someone who craved power above all else, as shown with how far he had gone to achieve his current power level. Well, not like this wouldn't change if he had his way.

A short while passed, until several clicking sounds resounded throughout the area. Following those, the Wards began to crack in millions of different places, spreading outwards before the Wards all shattered into nothingness, followed by the many locks undoing themselves. That done, the doors opened themselves in a slow manner, and when they fully opened Arkham stepped aside for Vicious to enter first. Just as he made to enter though… Vicious stopped and spoke the following words. "Does that woman bother you?"

'Hm?' Arkham arched a brow whilst looking in the man's direction though he could only see his back. "What are you talking about?"

"Why didn't you kill her?" Vicious questioned, glancing up at the ceiling, although it felt like he was looking outside the Tower to where Lid had once been. "Perhaps it is due to her being your Niece? Did some pesky familial attachment get in the way?"

At this point, Arkham bristled with anger, already understanding the implications that Vicious had been insinuating. He had basically called him out on why he hadn't killed Lid when he had the chance, although he had expected him to still be aware of her. Even so, he had deliberately worded it in a provoking manner to get a rise out of him, and it worked unlike normal. The man felt fury course through him at them, remembering everything he had sacrificed to get this far. He had gone to great lengths to get here, his daughter meant nothing to him. However, he couldn't let Vicious know of his true plans for her, not when he was THIS close to his ideals being realized. As such, when he stepped forward to enter the door, Arkham responded hardly. "That is none of your-"

SCHING!

STAB!

"Gah!"

It happened in an instant, no Arkham felt sure it had been faster than that. His book fell to the ground, discarded yet not forgotten as drops of blood accompanied it. They fell onto the book's closed cover, whilst originating from the Katana blade pierced through the Scholar's stomach. The blade ran him through from the front, and had half the blade sticking out his back with a growing stain forming around the surrounding area of his stomach. Arkham's eyes widened, and considering how he had no eyebrows to speak of thanks to a certain... incident, in his past, his wide eyes did NOT look like anything natural. Gasps and short breaths escaped him as he, slowly, reached out with his hand to grasp the Katana which had now become stained with his blood, blood which occasionally dripped off and fell to the floor below.

The cause? Vicious.

Said man smirked sadistically at the pained expression his now former comrade now sported, knowing just how much this would have hurt the man. Both on a physical and on a spiritual level, as he leaned forward wo whisper into the man's ear. "In your endeavours to study the DPU's Wardcraft and other such forbidden arts on this backwater waste of a Planet, you not only sacrificed your loving wife and your pure, sweet little girl, but you also sacrificed all but one of your family members. You even went as far as to conduct these admittingly 'primitive' rituals to overflow yourself with Demonic Power in the hopes of it being able to completely transform into a Demon." he stated, chuckling in dark amusement as if he had just watched something eh found both stupid and humorous at the same time. It often was, watching pathetic mortals scramble for a power which did not choose any weak-willed souls to be its master, and yet despite the dangers their lust for power still drives them. It both intrigued and made him look down on these Mortals all the more. "Knowing of your... exploits, I believed you would be of more use to me, however I guess that is no longer the case. No wonder your transformation remains broken, incomplete and flawed just like the rest of you wretched mortal meat bags. Do not worry, I will continue from here, as you are of no further importance."

With that said, Vicious made to yank his Katana violently out of Arkham's chest, to spray his blood beautifully on the floor then go on with his day. However, to his slight surprise, Arkham held onto the blade with one hand, a sense of strength still within the limb as he stared deep into the other man's eyes. "What about... you, then?" he questioned. This would be a setback in his plans for sure, but he could at least agitate this man for stabbing him like this. Call it whatever one wished, but he would make sure to leave his mark somehow on this piece of garbage in front of him. "You may call ME broken... but isn't that the same for yourself?" Blood splattered heavily on his book which came from his now bleeding mouth, but Arkham pressed onwards. "You may be a DPU like that redheaded brat, however you are far from what you should be, are you not? Humiliated, weakened and disgraced without having a chance for vengeance, you yourself are just as big a failure as the rest of us. #DERISIVE CHUCKLE# Looks like you are just like the rest of us mortals, in that sense."

"Shut it!"

At hearing those words, added by the mocking smile which Arkham aimed at him, Vicious's eyes shone with berserker-like madness, his veins bulging whilst his teeth gnashed in murderous fury. This man had just opened up wounds which had long since closed off, reminding him of some of his greatest failures. As a result, fiery wrath exploded within him as he forcefully ripped the Katana out of Arkham's stomach, causing him to gasp and freeze in place. Turning away from him whilst doing so in one fluid motion, Vicious flicked his sword about before aligning the tip with the sheath strapped to his waist, then sheathed the blade. At the end, an audible CLANG resounded and Arkham fell, as if time had just resumed for him with blood exploding out of the lethal mortal wound he had just been dealt. "As of this moment, with the final door open, I no longer require your assistance, so let us be off... you pathetic piece of shit."

His final words spat out with enough venom to kill an elephant, Vicious stepped inside the open doorway, leaving the bloody corpse of the Scholar behind without even giving one more thought. The doors shut behind him, and all became silent once again.

* * *

**Chapter End**

**Well, wasn't this a wild ride?**

**First off, I'd like to mention how, if anyone reading these chapters find them tiresome to read, I apologize. This is a plot and detailed side story after all, cause there's so much stuff I want to cover that would make the Main Storyline feel even more complicated than it already is. Not to mention that the source material I'm using for this story makes it difficult to include other things to slow things down a bit. The breaks Noire had in earlier chapters were somewhat meant to mitigate this, but if any are unsatisfied then perhaps recommend me ways to make it less so. I'm willing to hear ideas after all. **

**Now that's out of the way, lets get to the meat of the chapter. In Lid's case not much needs to be said, and if you haven't figured out who her Spec Ops Mentor and her Heroic Spirit is, it should be much easier at this point. Especially with the use of her Noble Phantasm for the former.**

**On Noire's side of things, she is going through some stuff, and until her body has sufficiently recovered, she won't be going anywhere. She got absolutely WRECKED by Nevan after all, even lost some of her equipment like Raijin and her original HF Blade which she got in the Lastation Arc. This was largely due to her hastiness in helping Lid get through the Temen-Ni-Gru, if you recall back when she regained consciousness when she first Devil Triggered, it was mentioned that Rik would only help train her once she managed to pull it off on her own. She did, but since she rushed ahead thinking she'd already mastered it, she didn't use it to its optimal potential. **

**As a result, she didn't use the ice elements it possessed to wreck Nevan's backside,and not only damaged herself in a suicide attack, but also lost Raijin. This was something I wanted to showcase, that even if they have Devil Triggers, people will need to learn how to use their abilities as well as extend their timeframes. Even if one has a power, without knowing how to use it hey would just be wielding a gun with the safety switch not flipped.**

**Though, this didn't come without a few perks of its own, she did technically WIN after all. She not only managed to fuse Nevan's soul with her HF Blade, but the remaining fragments of Raijin also fused with it, giving this evolved version of it a whole new look as well as upgraded specs. I'll think of a name for it next chapter, don't worry. Now, every one of her swords are badass WMD's which can wreck people's backsides easily, yet there's still more development to come, especially with the foreshadowing of Ashbringer I've done. **

**Lastly the whole Vicious/Arkham scene showed a few more bits of Vicious's backstory, as well as the 100% confirmation that he is a DPU just like Nico. Although, there seems to be more to it than that which will be explored in later chapters. It also showed more of how their partnership really was, with both of them looking down on one another for their own reasons. I don't know if I presented it well enough, but I do hope that you all get the message. **

**Anyways, hope you all liked, and I'll see you in the next chapter!**

**Peace Out!**


	23. Chapter 23 - Understanding

**Chapter 23 - Understanding **

Noire, in the Dreamworld, had no idea how long had passed since she began training under Rik in the art of controlling her Devil Trigger, as well as learning more about how a Devil was meant to fight. How long had it been since she had gone under? How long had it been since she first set out to kill the Demon Nevan so she and Lid could advance deeper into the Temen-Ni-Gru? She even wondered on other things at one point, such as how Lid would be faring, how long it would take for Siegfried to recover, and more. Also, how long did or would she have left until the Spell would wear off and people started coming to their senses once more, only to realize there was a massive circular hell Tower right smack inside SONY's walls? She had no idea at all, which only added to her worries at the time, but instead of trying to figure it out, she focused on more important matters, such as properly understanding the powers that she now possessed.

It wasn't a good thing to prioritize personal matters above that of the state, that was something which Siegfried encouraged her to do. Under normal circumstances, a Leader was supposed to put matters of the state as their top priority above anything else, not even family was supposed to be as important. This had been stated multiple times, and there were many who chose their leadership jobs over social or familial lives, but the reasoning behind this well… it can sort of make up for the stuff they miss out on. For a leader isn't just thinking about themselves but for those that are governed by them. Their actions have massive impacts, more than they could ever even imagine, its like walking along a tightrope, a metaphor which has been used a lot in the main storyline but whatever. In any case, those who are leaders walk a thin line between morality and immorality, as such whilst many Leaders may seem corrupt, the reasoning behind it can mostly be attributed to their duties to their people forcing them to make the tough calls… Though an equal lot of the time those Leaders let power get to their heads and do horrendous acts using their power to frame others.

However, right now Noire had little other options available to her at the moment, since her real body was still being mended together by Ashbringer. The damage dealt to her by her little suicide strategy had actually exceeded Rik's expectations, much to the Appetite Demon's surprise which meant Noire wouldn't be able to leave the Dreamworld for a while yet. Nothing that upset him of course, since the remains of the Opera House still allowed navigation through it, albeit the area itself would be desecrated and unstable for a time, but that didn't matter to him. No, what Rik focused more on, and made sure to have Noire focus on as well, would be her ever-growing Demonic Powers. It would have been her best opportunity, since Ashbringer's healing prevented her real body's use of Demonic Power, which meant she could only theorize and study so much about it in the Dreamworld. Her dream self and her real self were still linked together after all.

As such, despite not being able to put her theories to practice (something which Noire SORELY wanted to do since it would help further her studies into Demonic Power), she still managed to gain increasing insight into how the Devil Trigger worked, insights she felt would have been QUITE handy before she had rushed in to help Lid, but no use crying over spilt milk. One thing she had discovered from it through Rik's tutelage, was that the Devil Trigger did rely on consuming large amounts of energy to be maintained, similar to her HDD Form. Only, it came from an internal source as opposed to external, thanks to the Demonic Power forming a core inside her being which generated it. Like a muscle though, it needed to be exercised, practiced, trained to be able to generate more power for the transformation.

However, a quicker way would be the ability unique to her Appetite Demon, which would be to absorb the souls of her Demonic foes. This ability would be unique to Demons though and wouldn't work as well with other beings like Abnormals or humans. Absorbing Demon Souls actually helped replenish the Demonic Power within the core, as well as expand it like water droplets forming a puddle which would grow into a lake, then an ocean. Obviously, the stronger the souls, the more the Core could expand and generate power for Devil Triggering. On the other hand, absorbing Abnormal Souls would severely lessen the energy generated, so it would be ill-advised.

Still, this meant one thing: to Develop her Devil Trigger, was to develop a muscle: it needed time and effort put into it, before the full benefits would be reaped.

Chaoseater, the sword she used in her Devil Trigger, actually worked a lot like Nico's Soul Edge, Noire realized during her studies. The reason why this comparison got made had been due to how the sword itself was a manifestation of her very soul when it is Devil Triggered, and thus shared similar properties to the sword itself. Properties like multi-plane existence as well as massive amounts of power which grew the more Demon Souls she absorbed. Not only that, but unlike Soul Edge Chaoseater acted… well, more like a conduit really, for her elemental abilities, abilities which would come forth in the form of either enhancements or techniques she would need time to develop. Time: something which she didn't have, unfortunately, so she would have to make do with learning how to fight like a Demon with the massive sword.

She had to say, fighting like a Demon required NOTHING like the Sword Mistress Style she had developed. If she were frank, then Noire would admit to herself only, that she hadn't expected there to be many similarities between fighting like a warrior and fighting like one of those things, but the sheer difference still remained enough to stun her. Demons relied primarily on their instincts, honed through countless battles to an absurdly high degree which gave them vicious advantages on the battlefield. That would explain why she had found so many powerful warriors amongst the Demons of Khorne back on Leanbox, but the Demons who hadn't experienced gruelling warfare for long, or missed out like the sealed ones in the Temen-Ni-Gru, well, that would be a different story. As such, Noire had to keep the Sword Mistress Style reserved for her other swords save for Dragon Fault, she'd need something else for that one, whilst instead she needed to develop a brand-new style to use for Chaoseater. So far, Noire hadn't gotten that far, but understanding where she needed to go had been the best place to start.

Rik even decided to include some time in getting used to her new 'Nevular' sword as Noire liked to call it, having combined the name Nevan with Dracular to make it. One Loophole he had found with Ashbringer's healing was that it detracted the outside sources of Demonic Power less, unlike internal sources like Noire's Devil Trigger. As such, he had been able to manifest it for her to practice wielding to get a good grasp on its feeling, its sensation and balance. The sword itself felt like a weapon meant to lure in its opponents then viciously tear them apart from within, which fit its vampiric origins fairly well if one asked her. As for the powers, Noire didn't have much in the way of practicing them for the time being thanks to Ashbringer essentially debuffing the Nevular itself which she didn't feel to fond for. So, she'd resolved to test its powers out in actual combat instead.

And thus, a whole hour had passed…

* * *

By the time that hour passed, both Noire and Rik felt something warm shine down on them, which pretty much told them that Ashbringer had finished healing her main body. To support this, Noire even felt all her pain having finally vanished, since this whole time it had persisted as if it were an annoying toddler clinging to the leg sleeve of their parents. Then again toddlers weren't annoying to her, she just made an analogy. Anyways, with the time for Noire to leave having arrived, Rik allowed her consciousness to return to the waking world, and as such Noire soon promptly vanished from the Dreamworld entirely. Once she had vanished, the man decided to head back to the beach for some well-earned RnR. He doubted that she would be paying him visits very often, as the path of Demonic Energy required strong willpower and individual training. He only showed her the ropes and got her started after all.

As Noire's consciousness returned to the real world, her eyes blinked open as she got adjusted to being awake once more. Her vision cleared quickly, so she managed to get to her feet pretty fast as well, albeit stumbling slightly due to getting up too fast. Once she had regained her balance however, the blackette looked around and surveyed one utterly DESTROYED Opera House, causing her to whistle to herself. "Wow… I caused this? Sheesh…" she mumbled under her breath, already mentally deciding on which sword to go with. In the end, she decided to go with Nevular, since it was TECHNICALLY her newest sword so she should get a better grasp on how it works in the real world. There was only so much she could have done before, after all. As such, Ashbringer which floated above her, vanished back into her Inventory, before Nevular appeared over her back, followed by attaching itself there.

'There, now that I have my weapon sorted out… I should probably look into regrouping with Lid…' Noire thought to herself, frowning when she thought about her fellow comrade in this endeavour. Since she had been under for a while, she worried about where she could have gone, especially since she… well, as much as Noire loathed to admit it, she had a bit of a bad track record so far with keeping communication open between them. If she were to unless though, then Noire figured that she had managed to get deeper into the Tower than she had, which meant she would likely have been closer to Arkham. It wasn't like she had that earpiece anymore, since it had been destroyed while back when Noire had first Devil Triggered. 'There's nothing for it then, I'll have to find her myself whilst I also navigate through this tower.'

Her decision set, Noire trekked out the Opera house, but not before she went out the side entrance she had discovered and later happened upon a stone mask, one which she recalled seemed to fit the shape of the statue beside that doorway back in those large ruins. As such, by the time she got back to those ruins (Killing no small amount of Demons with her Appetite Demon absorbing their Souls), Noire found the statue and inserted the Mask. At that point, certain pathways rose up from beneath the ocean blow the ruins, allowing her to walk over to areas where she didn't have to before. Noire had wondered if she would be able to ignore this section of the ruins in favour of finding Lid, and when she had asked Siegfried for Advice (at this point he had finally recovered enough to communicate again), he had stated to simply explore them for clues just in case. There could be many trinkets which she could use for various purposes like advancing through the tower itself, or even furthering her own development. He DID mention that her current self would be able to use up to 65% of Balmung's full power…

In any case, Noire had decided to take his advice and look around, which she soon found herself becoming glad she did so since she stumbled upon two things: a glowing blue orb called a Neo Generator as the inscription on it had called it, as well as a Secret Mission area in which she had to collect these things called 'Red Orbs' within a certain timeframe. She had no clue what they were originally, but she didn't think on them much and, as a result, she passed the Trial and won herself something called a 'Spirit Bone', something which she'd briefly read about in the Divine Library. Apparently, they were leftover Bones from the corpses of Spirit Beasts which had existed in the DPU Era, and they gave special abilities to their user. She only had that much knowledge on them at the moment, but this Spirit Bone took the form of a headpiece over her forehead which possessed 3 bird-like crystalline wings. According to what she had learned of it from that trial, this Spirit Bone was more of a defensive type, as it focused on protecting the user against Soul-related attacks. However, it was born from a 400,000-year-old Spirit Beast, and as such its defensive power wasn't really that great.

Still, Noire would take what she could get.

* * *

Eventually, Noire passed through the door and went down the corridor, the same one which lead her back to that Bridge-like area. Why did she come back here, one might ask? 'Hmmmm... since there weren't any signs of Lid when I retraced my steps, this place is the sole place I haven't checked yet…' she thought to herself, stepping onto the latter half of the Bridge before halting her movement. She looked up and cast her eyes around, searching for anything she could possibly use to help her advance. Eventually, her eyes fell upon a rather… large bear head statue carved into the wall above an entrance on the far side of the room. One which had a large gaping mouth which Noire could see into to view what looked like a circular hole in it…. A hole which fit the size of the Orb she'd found, the said item appearing in her hand from her Inventory, to a T. 'Heh, now THAT'S what I'm talking about! Now, how do I get this across to the other side…'

Part of her thought about taking one of her other forms and flying over, but she decided against that. Not only would it be demeaning towards her other forms, but Noire could sense a Killing Array down below, one which she believed would likely be just as dangerous as the first one which almost took her life. Thus, she would have to figure out another way across, so Noire metaphorically put on her 'thinking cap' and begun to brainstorm ideas. She even ran through some of them with Siegfried, though most of them ended up falling short since most of them involved her risking being exposed to the Killing Array.

Whilst they pondered, a flash of inspiration appeared inside Noire's mind, especially when she recalled a little something. 'Hang on… wasn't there someone who liked to play football somewhere in my Nation…? I recall she serves a Spec Ops, but had once been a General of one of my main military branches…' Football, huh… well, it would be worth a shot at least since it would let her avoid the Killing Array, but she didn't have much confidence in this idea. Her football skills weren't that good if she were honest, she barely even practiced.

Nevertheless, she didn't have much of a choice right now, so she had to make a gamble.

Looking forth at the open maw of the bear statue, identifying it as her goal, Noire looked back at the pale blue glowing orb in her hand, her eyes hardening as determination flowed through her body. 'There's nothing else for it… so let's do this!' She chanted inside her mind, before letting the orb fall out her hands and caught it with her foot. Noire then set out to start bouncing the orb up and down like a football, using her feet, her knees, her feet again, her calves, pretty much working up a rhythm and building up power behind each bounce. She needed to time this just right after all, otherwise… yeah, she didn't want to think about that.

After a dozen or so bounces, Noire eventually finished it off by kicking the orb high into the air right above her, then bent her legs to jump into a spiralling spin after it. Upon closing the distance, Noire twisted herself about to build up power and, with one mighty war cry, slammed her right leg into the ball from behind, launching it straight through the air… and into the hole within the bear's gaping mouth with perfect accuracy. Her eyes widened when she saw that, and as she landed in a crouch and got back to her feet… the moment of shock soon turned into one of triumph, as Noire bounced up and down in happiness whilst squealing in joy. "Yay! Yaay! I did it, ehehehehehe…!" she exclaimed, before she realized what she was doing and quickly stopped, clearing her throat to try and regain her 'cool and composed' demeanour. "W-Well… of course I did, its only natural that I do so, isn't it? Its ME we're talking about here…

_…I guess her pride is always going to be there to some extent…_

'You say something, Siegfried?'

_… Pay me no need, Noire. In any case, perhaps we should continue forwards. I sense the Assassin Heroic Spirit ahead…_

Hearing that got Noire's blood going, excitement exploding within her chest. Heck, one could swear that an exclamation mark similar to one made when a certain secret spy made whenever he got spotted by an enemy happened above her head. 'R-Really?! Now THAT'S some good news, at least, then that means Lid must be close by!' she thought, now more determined than ever. If she could regroup with her fellow comrade, perhaps she could see if she'd learned anything new since they'd separated, or if she had ventured deeper into the Tower. It was at this point where Noire shifted her focus and noticed how the bridge had shifted to the door up ahead, the one right beneath the bear head. She figured it happened whilst she had her happy spiel just now but didn't pay it much heed afterwards. Instead, with the thought of finally regrouping with Lid filling her mind with a sense of urgency, Noire simply rushed across the bridge to the other side, entering the door right afterwards.

* * *

After passing through, the doors closed by themselves behind her, although Noire couldn't be bothered to pay attention to that right now.

Instead, she focused more on what the sight before her presented.

She had found herself in the middle of a long corridor which had been made from something OTHER than stone, which made for a nice change of pace at least, though she also encountered Lid up ahead. She seemed to be sitting over the left side of the corridor, thinking to herself which caught Noire's attention. 'That' strange…' she thought, frowning. For a moment, Noire wondered why she was here and not deeper into the Tower. Part of her also wondered how she had managed to get passed the Killing Array before but attributed to the Presence Concealment skill of her Heroic Spirit. 'Instead of continuing on, she's just sitting there, as if waiting for something…' she thought in confusion. 'But what could she be…?'

It was at that moment, that Noire took her gaze off her fellow fighter, and looked to the space beside her, to which her eyes caught sight of a man's corpse lying there with a gaping hole in his stomach. A corpse which Noire quickly realized the identity of as she began stepping closer. 'That corpse…! Is that, Arkham?!' her mind screamed at her whilst externally Noire retained her cool and composed expression. Because of the different material, she didn't expect her steps to echo as loud as they did, but essentially, they still did the same job of alerting Lid to her presence.

Proof being when she looked up in slight surprise at first, with a certain degree of alarm on her features whilst she made to draw some kind of hidden weapon on her person. "Who are-?!" she exclaimed However, the moment she saw who it really was, the silver haired Agent cut herself off, then let out a low exhale of relief. "I see… good to see you again, Lady Black Heart." She said with a nod of acknowledgement. She then glanced towards the door after glancing at the bloodied corpse for a brief instance. "Though, unfortunately, the mission status is not as good as initially hypothesized. Quite the opposite, actually."

"I can see that… looks like there's a bit of a situation here…" Noire commented dryly, glancing towards the door and noticing the same thing Lid did. Now that she looked at it, Noire could see some kind of array filled with Wards having been set up in front of it, and it looked like it wouldn't be letting anyone passed. She could tell this kind of thing's purpose thanks to her past experiences with these Wards, plus there were only so many functions that an array over an entrance with someone CLEARLY wanting to get through but couldn't… it wasn't exactly rocket science. She then shook her head and glanced back towards Lid, a thoughtful frown on her lips. "I didn't get a chance to mention it earlier cause of other matters being more important, but why not call me Noire, like all my citizens do? Formalities should be dropped when we've fought together on the front lines, I think." Also, let it be said that upon close acquaintances and friends, Noire didn't think there was a place for such formalities.

Upon hearing her, Lid looked back at her with her eyes showing confusion for a moment. She then recalled one time when she had actually addressed Noire as such, somethings he hadn't even noticed before, and thus she quickly began to panic, stammering. "T-T-T-That was a sl-slip of the tonge-tongue! I meant noting-nothing by it, L-Lady Black Heart, It was just a moment of non-professionalish-professionalism!" she tried to say, only for her habit of mispronouncing things to make it way longer than necessary.

Noire could only sweat drop at this. 'Wow, a little too extended there…' she thought to herself, before sighing and holding the side of her head. "Its alright you know; I give you my express permission to call me by my name. Got it? No breaching of protocol here." She declared, trying to mimic a professional soldier voice. She felt quite proud of herself if one asked her. However, with the current situation Noire quickly reminded herself that things needed to be explained. So, she promptly cleared her throat then gestured to the door opposite her with a serious, stern face. "A-Anyways, mind telling me what that array of Wards on the door is? Looks to me like some kind of seal attempt or something similar."

Glancing at the door, Lid looked back at the CPU Goddess with an equal level of seriousness. "It is as you say, Lady Noire." She replied with a confirming nod. This information pretty much prompted the said blackette to take a seat on the ground opposite the infiltration Agent as she continued. "I have only arrived recently, whereas I barely managed to escape that Killing Array with my life. To debrief, this here was set up beforehand, by who I'm uncertain, but it seems to be some sort of restriction Array. From what I know of Wardcraft, not much aside from that bastard Arkham's brief study about it, this Array is a temporary one, as it will disintegrate after a short while. Why a permanent one wasn't erected is uncertain, however the situation is what it is." Lid explained, grimacing and giving a scalding glare towards the corpse.

"I see…" Noire commented, taking in this information. This wasn't good, not good at all. If they couldn't advance deeper into the Tower, then Vicious could get whatever it is he is after, which could pose a problem for her and Lid. Not only that, but this temporary Restriction Array would go on for a 'short while', but how long was that exactly? She would love to know that just from a piece of mind's perspective, but Noire doubted that Lid would know, otherwise she would have told her. From what she had seen of her, Lid wasn't someone to withhold crucial information which could change the lives of those helping her. So, if she didn't know something, it would be pointless asking her. "In that case, did you manage to kill Arkham then? His corpse is here, so…"

At that, Noire nearly flinched when Lid's glare became even greater in intensity. Her eyes, resembling the pits of hell themselves, gave a scathing glare in the dead scholar's direction, as she spat out the following words like they were disgusting venom. "Negative… I did not. Subject had been found slain like this, with the injuries pointing to a curved sword-type weapon, likely a Katana judging by its shape. Neither you nor I have such a weapon on us, so neither of us are responsible for his death." She explained, and if looks could kill Noire felt like Arkham would have been incinerated by Lid's gaze 1000 times over.

"… Yet, you don't seem satisfied with that."

"… Truth be told, Lady Noire-permission to speak freely?" Lid began, before questioning the Goddess and getting an approving nod in return. "Well, I LOATHE that man with a passion. There are very few people whom I detest with as much hate as I do Arkham. In his path to becoming the Devil, he killed his own wife, slaughtered countless innocents, and to top it all off…" Taking a pause to do a shaking exhale, her teeth gnashing together as Lid violently trembled. Her rage shone through as she threw a hand in Arkham's direction which constantly shook with how much rage flowed through its owner. "He's my filthy piece of shit, heretical UNCLE who sacrificed MY OWN PARENTS for his goals. I've been hunting him ever since, he's MY family, MY responsibility. I'M the one who should have killed him, nobody else!" Lid raged, and if she were a Demon her Demonic Power would have been running rampant through the surroundings with how much hatred she exuded currently.

Yet, Noire couldn't find it in herself to blame her. This was something which had been built up for a long time, more than a couple years at least, so Lid getting robbed of her revenge like this… it must have hit her HARD. Noire herself knew that leaders had to take the neutral high ground in disputes, to be as unbiased as possible when deciding a ruling. It was similar to court cases where the judge has to decide who was right and vice versa via the facts presented to him/her. However, Noire wouldn't admit this to anyone, but she could somewhat empathize with Lid a little bit, as there were people out there Noire wanted to punish herself, people who deserved every bit of horrible karma which would be coming her way. A certain brown-haired businessman came to mind when she thought this, causing Noire's mood to get even darker. If those people kicked the bucket before she could get her hands on them, would she feel as crushed as Lid likely did right now? Like she had wasted years of her life away for nothing to show for it? Noire wasn't sure, and even more she didn't want to find out the answer.

In all her times of watching anime and (secretly) cosplaying, she may have cosplayed a lot of MC's from vengeance stories, but she knew for a FACT that those stories rarely ended well.

* * *

For a while, neither of the two said anything, with one stemming in her rage whilst the other calmly and patiently waited so the conversation could continue. Not like they could do much else considering their way had been blocked off, but still. After about 5 minutes or so, Noire decided to try and get the conversation ball rolling again, as it seemed like this wasn't something which could be solved with words but with time. Time may heal most wounds, but on the other hand some scars may never truly heal. She could only hope Lid could come to some kind of closure for the time being, especially with there still being stuff needing to be done. "… You think that whoever did this, may have gotten further in than us?" she questioned, even though Noire had a good idea of the answer.

In all honestly, the exact INSTANT she saw the wound, she immediately realized that it had been Vicious who had done it. She always got the impression from what little she saw of their interactions, that the two were just using each other. Nothing like a well and true partnership, it was more like two wolves temporarily leading their packs together whilst salivating at the eventual opportunity to slay one another. Thus, seeing that wound didn't necessarily surprise her as much as it should have. Knowing that though, Noire encountered another problem: what if Lid ran into Vicious before she did? With how Vicious had been earlier, she didn't doubt for a SECOND that he wouldn't kill Lid outright, the guy had a superiority complex and seemed madly obsessed over gaining more power. As such, if Lid tried to kill him for taking her revenge from her, then she believed the Agent would fail horribly. He wasn't the type of guy an Assassin could target, anyways.

"…Hard to say." Lid eventually replied with, having took a while to rein in her emotions. As much as she loathed to admit it, she may just have to set her sights on Arkham's killer instead of the man himself, just so she could get some form of closure. With how many years she had spent hunting him, she didn't think there would be any other way for her to move on. Still, she shouldn't get ahead of herself, since she had to get through this Array not to mention she had no idea who it was that even killed her quarry. She needed to be tactful about this, only then would the enemy no longer stand a chance against her. Glancing at the Array, a bemused groan escaped Lid's lips as she hung her head, shaking it soon after. "… What I wouldn't give for some of MAGES.' help right about now…"

Now THAT caught noire by surprise as evident by the stunned expression forming on her face. "Eh?!" she exclaimed, expressing her shock to a degree which would be higher than it normally should. "You know MAGES.? I mean, the Mad Magician, the one with the blue hair-"

"With the witch hat and chuni personality? Affirmative Lady Noire." Lid replied with a confirming nod. Seeing the look of absolute disbelief In her face, the Agent shook her head with an unamused sigh escaping her lips. "It… wasn't an exactly ordinary meeting, we met on a Quest. I had been tasked with gathering some materials from some Abnormals from a rather… unique client. I got the materials quick enough, but I had little care on who the client was. I was more focused on hunting that pile of garbage down." A flash of seething rage overtook her, before she suppressed it and continued. "Turned out the Client was MAGES. Herself… she'd been requesting Guild Agents and Spec Ops to gather materials for some of her research projects and, well, I was one of the less fortunate ones. Apparently, she wanted to test one out on me… it didn't go so well."

The way Lid shuddered at the memory, made Noire rethink her earlier intention of asking her what kind of project that she had asked for her help with. 'Knowing MAGES., it'd probably be a really weird one…' Noire thought, recalling the few times she had interacted with the blunette during her stay in Leanbox. They were rare, but every time she did so Noire would always get called her 'assistant' even against her will, something which bugged her to this day.

Fortunately, the shudder didn't last long, likely due to Lid relying on her discipline training to suppress what could have been potential PTSD. "It wasn't all bad though, as in exchange for it she helped me with understanding some of the papers I had gathered from Arkham's Laboratories. MAGES. is a magician worthy of the name, but even so, we couldn't uncover very much about this craft. This was due to the language requiring a certain energy type to fully translate. Even MAGES. Nearly fell unconscious whilst helping me, and I had not been much better." Lid explained, wincing as she remembered the MIND-NUMBING headaches which assaulted the two of them when they had come too. "We've been work acquaintances ever since."

"I see, well I guess MAGES. wouldn't miss any research opportunity, she's a Mage after all." Noire remarked to herself as she thought about the blunette. "She's so into her inventions and magic research that I wouldn't be surprised if she would be spending days on end immersed within it. As for the whole translation business, I think it would be best if you try not to do it too much, if at all. I've found out myself that only those who can utilize demonic power can understand the language of the Devil Completely. Sometimes, things can be imbued with special spells which simulate the same effect if they wee written by non-Demon species or even half demons, making them hardly any different from demonic texts." She explained.

This managed to perk Lid's interest if the look of desire and curiosity brimming within her lone eye would be any sign. "Interesting… Lady Noire, permission to speak freely: You talk like you have experience with this, did you try yourself?" she questioned her, to which the blackette nodded.

"Of course, I did. What, you thought I wouldn't try to learn as much as I could about my enemy? It doesn't matter what form I take, as long as I can protect my people, then I'd do anything for them." Noire replied, shaking her head. To be frank, she wasn't so sure she should be casually revealing that she had Demonic Power coursing through her body. Not only would her people likely not see her as their Goddess anymore, but it would also give her enemies more leeway to use against her. The less people knew, the better however she got a good feeling about Lid. Not to mention that if she wanted to have her people trust her, she needed to learn how to trust them as well. It was a two-way street after all, and she only expected the best out of her subordinates, she wouldn't take anything less.

Good thing that her instincts had been spot on, as Lid seemingly gave a nod of understanding with regards to her reasons. "Well, its not my place to question your decisions, Lady Noire. In addition, I would be too hypocritical if I were to judge you for using a power unlike what you are used to, as I too have a similar power… as I'm all too sure your aware." She remarked, getting a meaningful nod from the blackette in return.

With the foreshadowing in that statement, how could she not understand? With the atmosphere turning a bit more civil and less intense than before, Noire shifted herself so that she sat with her legs in a reverse 'r' position with her hands on her lap. Afterwards, she addressed the obvious hint which Lid had thrown her way. "You're talking about your Heroic Spirit, right? Assassin if I'm not mistaken?" she queried, although her tone suggested (or pretty much stated) that she had already gotten her answer.

"Indeed, as I'm sure your own told you." Lid replied, her eyes showing that she too had similar thoughts and opinions to the CPU. "Just like mine told me yours was a Saber Class Heroic Spirit. Neither of them told us of each other's true names, as knowing a Heroic Spirit's True Name will help you figure out their weaknesses. Moreover, if we get our individual spirits permission, shall we introduce them? As a form of trust in each other." She suggested. "If we're going to be working together, then we need to know that we have each other's back."

This was something she had been wrestling with since the start of this conversation. It had been clear to Lid now, that Noire may have committed dozens of mistakes in the past which resulted in her Nation being what it is, however she definitely was a woman of her word. She'd promised Lid she would have killed the Demon barring her path, so Lid had put her trust in her, soon enough feeling it's presence vanish and thus realized that she had kept true to her promise. That just proved to her that Noire could be trusted ad that she would be genuine in her efforts to try and help… but she just wanted to be sure. In her line of work, being paranoid actually was a means to survive longer on the battlefield.

Knowing what Lid was thinking and intending just from her words alone (though she wouldn't admit to analysing them in her mind like a supercomputer, nope not at all), Noire gave a nod of acceptance. "Sure, that's fine with me." She replied, already conversing with Siegfried about it. He gave her his permission after a few minutes, since his leadership skills helped him understand the value of trust. "I'll go first then; the name of my Heroic Spirit is Siegfried. An ancient King from a distant past who sacrificed his life to maintain his Kingdom's peace." She stated, proudly. No small amount of pride existed within her when she talked about her Heroic Spirit. She tried not to brag, but she would definitely feel proud of how she and Siegfried had grown together.

As she heard Noire's words, Lid's own eye narrowed in understanding, so many things clicking into place about her CPU. "I see… well, mine's not nearly as well-known as yours Lady Noire, but the True Name of my Heroic Spirit… is Fuma Kotaro: the head of the Fuma Ninja Clan during an era in Leanbox's past. His clan was one of the more… infamous ones, despite there being so little known about them, and I bonded with him during a scavenging of an old ruin." She explained, having used the time Noire had spent introducing her Heroic Spirit to get her own's permission. It had been slightly harder at first but the moment that she heard the name Siegfried, Kotaro had changed his tone. Apparently, he was aware of the name Siegfried, the King who slew a great Dragon called Fafnir, gaining the beast's heart afterwards. Whilst still reluctant, he apparently felt there were worse people to give his True Name to.

"Fuma... huh, I sorta recall reading about him, but there wasn't much on him, like you said..." Noire murmured, cupping her chin with her hand as she lost herself in thought. "Still, at last that explains why you move so well, kind of like a ninja and not a soldier, but that suits you just fine, I think."

Lid nodded her head, a small relieved smile forming on her face. "Indeed. Now, since we've learned each other's Heroic Spirits, we should probably learn how they fight, by extension their Noble Phantasms." Part of her wanted to keep that information to herself, however if she offered it up and considering a Saber's code of honor plus Noire's own personality, it wouldn't be a waste of time. Upon getting an agreeing nod from the blackette, Lid continued. "Very well, i'll debrief first: Fuma Kotaro has two Noble Phantasms, one Anti Army and one Anti unit (Self) type. The former summons his 200 subordinates to encircle and kill the opponent, whilst the latter is similar to a Drive Skill, only its slightly weaker than the former. Makes him one of the more versatile Heroic Spirits, Lady Noire."

Huh... so Lid had two Noble Phantasms belonging to one Heroic Spirit. Was that even possible? Noire directed this thought to Siegfried, and soon enough she got an answer out of him.

_... It is indeed possible, but it depends on the Heroic Spirit themselves. They are beings who are defined by their legends, empowered by those aware of them and how well-known they are, after all. In my case, I do have multiple Noble Phantasms, but I have sealed them into Balmung when I placed the Bottlenecks on it. You will have to unlock the final bottleneck if you wish to access them, and when you do I will explain them to you..._

'Okay, got it...' Noire replied, it had become something she expected at this point, where whilst she had these great things in her arsenal, she had to work to show that she would be deserving of them. She felt like that was a large reason why Siegfried even let her use his Noble Phantasm in the first place, if he were to just LET someone use his abilities which he would be known by, the chance of them being used for malicious purposes would be enormous. This in mind, Noire explained about her Noble Phantasm Balmung and its abilities, though after a while she eventually revealed that it couldn't use its full power thanks to the bottlenecks.

"Looks like we BOTH have things of baffling scales which we've experienced… Lady Noire, pardon my manners, but I must query with you. Have you ever wondered what it would have been like, to return to the Gamindustri we once knew?" Lid questioned, catching Noire by surprise. Seeing the confused look Noire sported seconds later, the field Agent began to elaborate on her question. "Back before, when we didn't have to deal with any of this Demonic crap, when we only had to worry about the monsters and the Abnormals. Those days may have seemed difficult for everyday life, but compared to current times, I am under the ideal that they were more like blissful peaceful days. No need to worry about Souls being destroyed, enemies we could actually kill and manage…"

Lid trailed off, becoming silent as a realm of nostalgia passed through the area. The only sounds which were heard, could be the sounds of humming coming from he Array over the Door itself. Yet, there was no need for any more explanation on her part, since Lid had made it pretty clear what she was referring to. Something which honestly, Noire had thought about more than a few times when she'd been alone with her thoughts. Sure, the days were stressful back then with all the Abnormals coming about, but they seemed like bliss compared to now when the danger levels had been cranked up to a million. Heck, if there were no Demons, perhaps Noire could have achieved her goals by now, without even having to become part Demon to do so too.

Still, now that she had been asked that question, she also had an answer prepared. One which she had concluded long before this event even took place. After looking down at her thighs, concealed by her red skirt, Noire's eyes hardened as she looked back up to the silverette before her. "I don't, not really." She replied, this time throwing Lid through a loop. She soon elaborated, mirroring her comrade's prior actions all the while. "Whilst those days seemed easier than things are now, there were things which only could have happened under excessive adversity. Like, the alliances which were forged between Planepune, Lastation and Leanbox. If things hadn't progressed as bad as they have, I doubt we'd have EVER thought of that idea, and now look at what's happening. People are helping each other in ways they never would have before. A common enemy is forcing everyone to work in ways that normally they wouldn't have even considered, putting aside old grudges. Whilst we were up in Celestia, humans concocted the Spec Ops Program to fight the battles we should have. Whose to say that wouldn't have happened again? So Lid, things may have happened badly, but this conflict has caused a few good things as well."

In Noire's mind, humans may have done many horrific things whilst she and the other CPUs had been up in Celestia, but they also managed to survive for over 500 years against this inhuman threat, a threat which the Goddesses could have stopped for them long ago. But they didn't, so like a child separating from the parent's nest they learned to fend for themselves, becoming independent. If Humanity could do that once, whose to say that it wouldn't happen a second time? Through viewing her people's activities by mingling amongst them, signs of progression towards a greater goal surrounded the CPU. It gave her a bittersweet reminder of one VERY important fact about Gamindustri:

That Competition, rivalry and conflict help spurned their progress better than anything else.

Hearing this from Noire baffled Lid more than anything, the infiltration Agent sitting there looking like a dumbstruck civilian staring at a massive festival. Now that she thought about it, and from what Noire said just now, she could see where the blackette came from. Bad things may have been happening, but this also stirred responses from people in ways which could be considered either amazing or damning. Conflict brought change, whether for good or bad. This would have happened regardless if the Goddesses stayed in Celestia or not, so it wasn't like this would have changed any.

And so, these two continued their discussions until the restriction array would finally dissipate.

* * *

**Chapter End **

**Okay, another one done.**

**Now this chapter's a bit of a 'break' chapter, as whilst there have been plot points in the talk between Noire and Lid, they were merely trying to pass the time before they could eventually pass through deeper into the Tower. No solving puzzles, no fighting Demons, just two girls talking about things which interest them. The thing is, these two girls I feel would, in their current situation, talk about these things more than more normal things like their hobbies or whether or not they do shopping sprees like normal teenage girls do. Save for both of them not being teenagers although they may look young. I wrote this chapter like this so that people who are getting tired of the same thing, have something refreshing to read and sink their teeth into these two characters' mindsets.**

**The whole thing at the beginning isn't that much, its just simply Noire learning more about the powers which rest in her body, understanding how they work. Its essentially laying the foundation for her future power growth. **

**As for the reveals of their Heroic Spirits, Noire and Lid have somewhat gained enough of a trust with one another, but as you might be able to tell it isn't there completely. Its getting there, but for now the two are simply getting to know one another through their viewpoints and ideals. The best way to learn about someone if you ask me. Next chapter things will pick back up though, and this time these two will likely be working together, so things may progress at a faster rate. Two heads are better than one after all, and whilst Noire has that loner-like mindset, even she would feel the pressure of the clock ticking I feel, so she would somewhat accept the help for now. **

**Anyways, look forward to the next one, and hope you all like this one.**

**Peace Out!**


	24. Chapter 24 - Proceeding to Tower Depths

**Chapter 24 - Proceeding to Tower Depths**

A while of talking passed between these two girls as they began to slowly open up to one another. The two talked about the state of things, and their opinions on different subjects like the whole alliance thing with the other nations. When asked about it, Lid had 'passionately' voiced her mixed feelings about it, saying that whilst it was a move which lead to a lot of fortunate events for the Nation, she wondered more about those who would try to gain access to Lastation's resources for their own purposes, mostly referring to the Leanbox nobles in this case. Noire could see her point there, since the Nobles in Leanbox definitely felt like money-grabbers to the blackette CPU's eyes, however she believed that Vert (whenever she comes back from whatever it is she's doing, by the way) would be able to handle things on that end.

The reason why she believed so, would be due to how she'd witnessed Vert's opinion on the matter herself. She'd seen how conflicted Vert had become about how her Nation had fared whilst she had been away and in hiding, she'd seen how deplorable it had devolved into since the time of its founding and had become disgusted by it. Not only did there exist many conspiracies and hidden power plays throughout the Leanbox political system, but the military families and the Nobles' grudge against one another had surpassed anything Vert had ever could have expected to occur. It was almost like looking at two packs of wolves eagerly awaiting to sink their fangs into one another, not to mention she had become aware of certain key players involved in these disputes, one of them being Count Mott.

Just hearing his name made Noire's lips curl in disgust, and she felt like the same could be said for Vert as well. That Noble had to be the worst of the worst in their eyes, how he would demean the Basilicom staff in subtle yet not so subtle ways, how he would insult the other Nobles like they wouldn't retaliate, and how he treated his servants too. It all just disgusted them to their very cores, making them mark the man as a despicable representation of humanity. He didn't even TRY to disguise his lecherous ways when he looked at them (or their chests/hips for more detail), or be very silent about his ambitions to become greater than he already was. Upon the intent to figure out his motives, Vert had done the regrettable thing and investigated Mott's background, uncovering all sorts of truths about him like how he behaved as a child and the many conspiracies surrounding him. One of the worst ones though, would be his love for 'NTR' matters, stealing women from their beloved husbands and having said husbands 'disappear'. What he did with these two, both CPUs had good ideas but no proof, so it wasn't like they couldn't do anything.

However, not once did she think of entertaining the notion of giving up on the Nation. Not when she had invested so much into its founding, Leanbox was quite literally her home. It was the fruits of her efforts all those centuries ago, so how could she just give it up like that? As such, Noire found herself under the opinion that finding the solution to these problems, had been the foundation for Vert's intent to disappear from the Basilicom. It didn't really fit with Noire's strict criteria for a CPU though, but then again Leanbox wasn't her Nation, plus she'd seen how dedicated Vert became to set things right. Though, she DID relegate an absurd amount of time to her Otaku ways, not like that would change about her, it seemed.

Aside from that, Lid had asked Noire what she would think about the way things were in Lastation, what with Avenir, the Basilicom, their factions and the whole expo which has been delayed indefinitely by Noire's decree. The blackette didn't want to delay it necessarily, but with the way things were progressing she had little option but to put it on hold for the time being. The Lastation expo was the golden target for Avenir to pretty much solidify their hold on her Nation, their finishing lap, their maximum priority target. As such, holding it off indefinitely HADN'T been something easy to do, but it had been necessary. Even though, Noire knew that it wouldn't work forever, since the Expo would be desired by the majority of her people.

This wasn't something she did on a whim, either, as before she had done so, Noire had confided in Chian about the idea. She knew after all, just how much she had at stake here, so she worried that it would negatively affect the mechanic in many ways. Though, she had consoled this with the rest of the faction under her command too, Chian had been the more important target in her mind due to what she'd done for her. As such, whilst the mechanic had her grievances about the idea, she ultimately understood what was happening when Noire explained it to her, as well as what Noire's intentions were with everything unravelling in the world. Chaotic times filled Gamindustri currently, with nothing ever being certain.

As such, Noire had pretty much stated that whilst things looked pretty chaotic in her Nation, Noire predicted that they would only get worse with time, and she felt like it would be the same for the other Nations too. Planeptune most especially, since they don't have a CPU leading them but an (as much as she didn't want to admit it due to pride) competent Government which kept the majority of the Abnormals suppressed and actually got shit done. Planeptune, with its advanced technology and competent work force, actually fared the best out of the four Nations, much to Noire's chagrin and annoyance. She felt like Plantpune pretty much made the other three Nations look like chumps in comparison with how they far compared to the rest of them, EVEN without their CPU.

Of course. During their talks some of the more… personal matters came up, though not intentionally. Like for example, WHY Lid had a habit of mispronouncing words at all when she was in something as disciplined as the Military. Apparently, the reason why she had it had come from her childhood when, in comparison to now, Lid had been a meek, timid little girl who didn't socialize very much, if at all with the other children. She preferred an isolated lifestyle, where she didn't have to worry about pleasing others aside from her mother and father… who back then (Noire cringed to herself when she remembered that her parents had been killed by Arkham's hands) had been suffering financial difficulties thus had a hard time raising her. Thus, she didn't want to get in their way and make things even harder for them, though in the end that resulted in her being mercilessly picked on by other children. She didn't let anyone know of it, and thanks to that she gained this speech impediment which had stuck with her to this day.

Sometimes, children could be crueller than adults…

Things changed for her when she joined the military though, where everyone treated the other with more respect and with more of a stylized lifestyle compared to what Lid had been used to. From there on, she progressively got better with herself, connecting with a few people and making a few close friends along the way. It helped her mostly get over her speech problem, but it slipped here and there.

On Noire's side, Lid managed to discover her love of anime, manga and otaku culture in general… even though subtle wordplay, figured out how she liked to Cosplay (though Lid didn't press that matter since Noire likely would just deny it, she had a good grasp of her tsundere personality at this point), which sort have threw Lid off her game somewhat. She didn't expect her CPU to, in all this culmination of conversation, to be so… human. She had grown up under the idea that the CPUs were seen as these cold, passive deities who simply watch over them and protect against monsters, though they hadn't done that last one very well… or the first one, with the proof for her being the whole Coalition incident.

Eventually, the two noticed the array beginning to disintegrate, and a steeled look overcame their previous expressions. A unified revelation entered their minds as the two stood up, the two having strapped their respective weapons on their person: that the time for talking had passed, and the resuming of the Temen-Ni-Gru exploration had resumed once more.

Once the entrance had opened fully, Noire and Lid strode on inside, eventually finding themselves passing through a door which lead them to a large, rectangular room… one which had an abyssal space where two massive gears could be seen. Gears which looked large enough to be counted as platforms in their own right, together filling the space they occupied. They at first didn't see them, but when Lid looked down and notified Noire to do the same, they witnessed several more Gears, albeit smaller ones, beneath where they could see a door on the other side. Eyeing the gears with her eyepiece, Lid hummed in thought, as she cupped her chin with her right hand. "Looks like these gears aren't in operation. Seems like they haven't been active for a sufficient time period."

With how they had a record for bad communication, it had been decided between them that the two would best work together by sticking as a pair for the time being. That meant that they would have to stay near one another, whilst keeping an eye out for any enemies as more people together would make for a bigger target for these Demons. It had been Lid who suggested this plan of action, and after a while of deliberating it with Siegfried, Noire had eventually accepted it. It wasn't like Lid was too weak to fight against these creatures, plus Siegfried sensed that Lid hadn't shown her full arsenal either.

"Yeah, I guess so. Still, this does give us the chance to get to the other side, and if there are any Demon ambushes." Noire mentioned thoughtfully whilst the two hopped onto the Gears. As the two expected, they did indeed get ambushed by a couple dozen Enigmas, however they quickly got axed off by the two girls, so they weren't worth much. Afterwards, Noire and Lid hopped down to the bottom Gears, and made their way through the door, finding themselves beside the beginning of a corridor.

Lid hummed to herself as she pondered something. "This place…" she mumbled beneath her breath though Noire took note of it in her mind. Heedless of this, she continued a moment later. "Lady Noire, please exercise caution." Her eye steeled whilst she peered out of the corner to the rest of the corridor. She then put a hand on her eyepiece and seemingly began fiddling with it, several high-pitched sounds coming from the piece. "There's a demonic presence up ahead, several of them. Though they don't seem to be that strong, similar in levels to those Enigmas by my estimates." She informed her.

At this, Noire arched a surprised brow in an impressed manner. "Really? That's interesting…" she mused, glancing out before she noticed the way Lid's eye piece was behaving. Something clicked in her mind and she remembered something she and Lid discussed earlier about their capabilities. "The reason why you managed to notice them is due to that 'Solid Eye' thing, isn't it?"

The Solid Eye, one of Lid's favourite tools for her jobs, and it showed. Noire recalled her explaining its workings to her (with almost fanatical worship-like mannerisms too. Lid REALLY liked that piece of equipment). According to her, it had been developed by a Lastation researcher called OTACON, who she later learned had once been a Guild Agent but since retired to be a researcher. The Solid Eye combined ENVG (Enhanced Night Vision Goggles) light amplification and imaging technology, and also allowed for binocular functionality (though not simultaneously). In addition, the NV capability could also reveal things that normally wouldn't be seen, such as footprints, thus allowing one an easier time predicting enemy route patterns and reacting accordingly. When heavy artillery such as tanks enter the field of view it displayed their specifications and armaments. It also takes in body temperature, heart rate and sweat secretion to calculate a soldier's physical and emotional state. Its camera vision utilized the fish-eye perception. Lid's model also acted as a corrective lens for far-sightedness.

So yeah, it's a versatile tool… kind of like someone's dual Bracers, in a way.

"Affirmative. They must be doing something within themselves because to the naked eye, they are invisible, but anything electrical can be used to reveal their positions." Lid explained, pulling out a black combat knife with a crimson blade edge from her Inventory. It was what she was most comfortable with, even though her Mentor advised her to be useful with dozens of different weapons, she always felt like she would be a knife user at heart. "I'll go on ahead, Lady Noire, I'll tactfully eliminate them, any reinforcements I'll leave to you." She explained the plan she thought of on the fly to the CPU. She didn't see it as necessary to view her as someone higher than her on the battlefield, when in war the only thing that mattered when looking at someone was if they were a soldier or a civilian. Noire to Lid, appeared as the former, hence the attitude.

Something which Noire agreed with if the nod of the head she gave was any indication. So, with that, Lid looked back out there, her Solid Eye whirring to life as she focused her breathing. She got into position, and the next thing Noire saw, Lid had dashed through the corridor at blinding speeds, her form practically a blur with her Knife gleaming menacingly. 'Whoa! So fast…!' she thought in shock as she hurriedly followed after Lid at a fair distance, already seeing how the agent hopped on what seemed to be empty air only to slit something's throat (judging by the spray of blood). A dying screech of surprise soon followed, before Noire saw something seemingly worm-like in shape just disperse into particles, but Lid had already moved on at that point.

_…Interesting. On top of her already impressive agile movements, it appears she has been refined by some skilled mentors. Her movements appear to be the fusion of two different styles, which makes sense considering she has mentioned that she's apprenticed to a Spec Ops agent as well as wields the Assassin Fuuma Kotaro. If she were in my era, the amount of damage she could inflict on others would have been disastrous… dare I say it, she may even have the potential to have hit my blind spot back then…_

Beneath her breath, Noire whistled in appreciation, a sense of pleased pride surging through her at one of her citizens being praised by someone like Siegfried. For someone like him to do that, with his absurdly high standards, meant that those words would have significant weight behind them. All the while, Noire noticed several Demons, Hell Greeds supported by a few Hell Lusts, appear through spatial cracks, attempting to surround Lid as she moved through the corridor. However, Noire didn't let that happen as, like they had planned, she took care of the reinforcements swiftly before they could get a good shot at the infiltration Agent.

As for Lid's battle style, Noire had heard it from her herself, but seeing it was a completely different experience. It seemed like, unlike Noire herself who studied her enemies, quickly coming up with the optimal, perfect way to defeat them, Lid focused on simply dispatching her opponents as fast as she could. She focused on her enemies' vitals and made as few wasted movements as possible. 'Looks like it is a recon-oriented style, one which focuses on analysing the target and then striking them down, all in one swift, fell swoop. Not a bad style to use for infiltration, but…'

_…Indeed, it does have its flaws. For example, it requires her to be aware of the enemy's movement patterns, body language, state of being, among other parameters. Should she falter in any of these, the efficiency of the fighting methods may suffer as a result. Perhaps she has some means around this, like that Solid Eye of hers for example, but for now we should just support Lid as she fights for our way through these invisible opponents…_

There weren't that many complaints from Noire there, not when she saw how effective Lid seemed at eliminating their appearing opponents quickly. Part of her did bristle a bit at the thought of not being at the front and centre like the leader she was, but she put those thoughts to rest since they weren't exactly very healthy for their current arrangement. Plus, if she couldn't trust a comrade of hers and that comrade couldn't trust her in return, what good would come from their partnership? 'Though, not going to lie, a part of me also feels quite… liberated at being relied on in this way…'

By the time they got through the onslaught of Demons, Noire and Lid reached the end of the corridor which took them about 20 minutes due to how many which had come reinforcing their brethren. Lid had also even described the invisible ones as 'Soul Eaters' during their approaching of the doorway at the end of the corridor, these Demons which normally remain invisible unless they are directly behind their prey. At which point, they would attempt to grab their prey and then attempt to suck out their life force. Lid had apparently experienced this the hard way, having almost gotten caught by surprise due to these things and only barely escaped with her life before those things could sink their fangs into her. Not something she would appreciate or would like to wish upon anyone, not even her worst enemies.

For someone like Lid to say that, it had to have been a HIGHLY mortifying experience, so Noire wisely chose not to continue that subject.

In the end, after they passed through the doorway, the two girls found themselves in a large, square shaped room. This one however, would be quite difficult to describe in the form of monologuing, both felt as they walked to the room's centre. However, suffice it to say that it had dozens of pillars connected between the floor and ceiling, with some being made from large, empty socket-sporting faces whilst others looked to be made from some sort of twisted, Demonic metal. There were also various statues and indentations, with a long upper pathway which flowed around the top of the room. However, the biggest feature the girls noticed, would be how at the opposite end of the room from where they had walked in, was a massive looking sink with three faces attached to it, similar to a being growing three heads instead of one.

"Well, this is… lovely. Yeah, I'm SO sure that tourists would like to see all these faces around…" Noire quipped sarcastically, glancing about whilst remaining on edge. Her instincts kept warning her to be on high alert, and Siegfried himself supported this. Plus, whilst she couldn't hear him, she felt like Rik would be supportive of her state in his own unique way as well. Seriously, the whole demonic faces and creepy atmosphere was starting to look a tad repetitive to her at this point, she get that Demons were all into this stuff, but would it hurt them to have some more originality in their architecture? These thoughts circulated through her mind, but she pushed them aside moments later, this wasn't the time to be dissing whoever built the interior of the Temen-Ni-Gru.

Whilst she looked about and had these internal opinions about the whole Tower itself, Lid kept her mind on the task at hand as she searched for a way forward. However, it didn't look like she was having much success due to how her brows furrowed and her lone eye narrowed into an increasingly confused/frustrated gaze. "I cannot seem to find the way forward from here, yet my instincts tell me this isn't a dead end." She muttered as she switched through different vision types by fiddling with her Solid Eye. Unfortunately, she didn't get anything at all no matter which vision she used, which only further added to her agitation.

"How about you go on top of the walkway?" Noire suggested after a while then glancing up at the walkway. That had been the one place where they hadn't looked yet, so maybe something might be there. It wasn't like they had much of an option otherwise, since they hardly knew anything about this Tower's layout beyond what Lid had already mapped out. Even then though, the fact that Nevan had used her Bats to sway Lid to different directions previously (she'd learned this with Rik whilst she had been healing) threw some shade onto her previous work, something with immensely vexed the infiltration Agent.

Still, she decided to follow Noire's suggestion since she had come to the same conclusion which Noire had reached previously. As such, Lid looked around for a way up, and notice d there to be hole in the railing just big enough for someone to jump through, with a statue beneath it impaled by a long Spear. 'That will do…' she thought to herself, nodding in satisfaction as she got a running jog. After taking a few strides to get her momentum going, Lid jumped upwards, flinging her arms out to grab onto the shaft of the impaling weapon. The moment she did, like a professional gymnast Lid flipped herself upwards on top of it, bouncing off the shaft and side flipping on top of the platform. She landed in a crouch with an audible THUD, hanging her head for a brief second before she raised it to look around.

All the while, Noire had to wonder if it was a general consensus for those affiliated with Spec Ops Agents to show off their parkour skills.

Not long afterwards, did Lid's eyes catch the sight of something which caught her attention. Her eyes laid sight upon a rather large rectangular pillar, at least up to her neck in height whilst being covered in screaming faces. Her initial disturbance of its features aside, Lid quickly made her way towards it, looking around and noticing a hole shaped just like the pillar opposite it. "Lady Noire, I think I have something up here!" Lid called out to her companion.

"Eh?! You do?!"

"Yeah! I'm going to push this Pillar I've found into a nearby hole in the wall! Let me know if there are any changes you observe in your immediate vicinity!" Lid called back, already switching her position so she could put her hands on the pillar, then she began to push it across the ground. She had to grunt in effort occasionally, due to the weight the pillar had which even forced her to put her entire shoulder onto it for more force. After a couple minutes, however, did Lid manage to push the pillar inside the hole completely, in which she heard a clicking sound to signify the completion of her task. "Objective complete! Lady Noire, anything happen on your side?!"

On her end, Noire eyed her surroundings when she heard Lid's words. For a moment, she didn't respond since nothing major had happened. That is, until she noticed the faces above the sink starting to cry tears of blood, tears which poured out like mini waterfalls and started filling up the sink. Soon, Noire brought this back to Lid's attention, quickly figuring out the puzzle in this room. "Yeah, something happened alright! 2 of those 3 faces started leaking blood like waterfalls! I'd say that they would have something to sob about, but their appearance does enough of that for them! Anyways, try and find more, because one still isn't leaking!" Upon finishing her demand, Noire grimaced beneath her breath. She did NOT like how she sounded that, but it still got the point across in her eyes. She just hoped Lid didn't tease her over it, she shouldn't due to having a professional demeanour.

"Roger that!"

With that, Lid did the same thing as she did before, eventually finding and securing the second pillar. She had to go all the way around the whole pathway, but she figured out that part easy enough. But then, she had difficulties actually locating the Pillar, even though she had found the intended socket for it with similar ease. Lid did manage to find it after a moment of searching though, soon identifying how there was a crack in one of the walls via use of her Solid Eye. Destroying THAT had allowed her to locate the Pillar inside at last, which thus resulted in her pushing it into the socket.

Down below, Noire noticed the third head starting to leak bloody tears like the rest of them. And then quickly hard the sound of something moving. Noire whipped her head around to the source, and found there to be a passageway opened up through one od the areas which had once been a statue inside a sunken inward section of a wall. Seeing it, a bright happy smile formed on the blackette's face as she twirled right back around towards the direction of her companion. "Lid!" she called out, the infiltration Agent jumping into he air from the walkway and landing beside her. "Looks like the statues really WERE the key to moving forwards. Now we-"

Whatever she wanted to say next got cut off when she sensed a surge of Demonic Power nearby, causing Noire to blanch since she recognized it all too well (same with Lid). Both girls looked towards the doorway they had discovered, only to find the signature crimson Seal which would trap them here over it. Not long afterwards, did the two quickly stand back to back from one another, Noire drawing out Luce and Umbra from her hidden thigh holsters, whilst Lid set about drawing a pair of submachine guns. Good thing too, because in the following second…

The entire room got flooded by Demonic forces, bent on ripping them a new one.

"Whew…!"

About 10 minutes later, both girls walked through the doorway to the other side, Noire stretching her arms upwards whilst Lid remained as alert as ever. Behind them, the signs of dispersing Demon Corpses could still be seen, the two having left without bothering to watch the spectacle of over 500 Demon corpses vanishing out of existence.

In Noire's mind, she couldn't help but feel refreshed after having taken a backseat from all the fighting she had done so far. Her arms released the tension that had been built up when she had stretched them just now. 'Ahhhhh, that felt good! I guess I've been fighting for so long now that I'm not used anymore to stopping for a long period of time…' she mused in her mind happily, not at all bothered by these revelations in her mind. If anything, she thought back to the battle she just had with a slight fondness.

Wait a minute, since when did she enjoy fighting to this extent? For a moment, Noire paused her stretching to consider this point, as well as her previous mindset with a thoughtful frown on her lips. Sure, she did in HDD, that version of her was always more aggressive than he human self, but still…

'Probably due to my obtaining my Devil Trigger. In any case, that isn't really important right now, something about Lid's been bothering me…'

Whilst she resumed stretching herself, Noire looked over to Lid, her brows arched as she began to question her. "You doing okay for Ammo Lid? You used a lot of rounds back there and all, now that I think about it you've been using copious amounts without being able to restock on your supplies…" After sating this, she let her arms drop to her sides once more, their stretching concluded. Even so though, Noire had every right to be worried, and it wasn't like she was wrong either. Whilst she had several different powerful Swords at her disposal and twin guns which didn't run out of Ammo, Lid would be a whole different story. She used an assortment of guns and gadgets to great effect, but their ammo wasn't infinite like Luce and Ombra. In time, there would be a moment where she may run out of bullets for them, a time which her arsenal would suffer a fatal blow and the Demons would inevitably use as an opportunity to try and strike her down.

Glancing towards her, Lid offered a full hand salute. "You have not a reason to worry, Lady Noire. I foresaw this situation and took precautionary measures to keep my supplies stocked high enough for several military campaigns." Lid explained, although she wouldn't say it out loud that she had been a bit too… wasteful, she would say, with her resources. Sometimes the Demon attacks got a bit much for her and she would be forced to use up more supplies than she would have normally. Like that battle she had with Noire alongside her after that massive whale crashed down to earth. She'd lost a lot of supplies thanks to that, thus had to restock using the items she had put in reserve. Thus, her sizable reserves had depleted quite a bit since this mission started, though Lid remained confident that she could complete her objective here still.

Then again, the nature of that objective wasn't the same as it had been before…

"… Well, just try not to overdo it, got it?" Noire eventually albeit reluctantly, relented. She didn't want to admit it, but she worried about Lid's safety, especially since she had seen signs of her reckless behaviour. Noire figured it had come from the fact that she had gotten so close to killing Arkham that she got a bit too hasty, but with him dead now she felt like Lid would do similar stunts as a way to vent her emotions… emotions which could lead her into places where she'd bite off more than she could chew. Recklessness was indeed a trait she could see in her fellow comrade, you see…

"Understood."

Somehow, Noire didn't have complete confidence that she did.

Well, in any case, after they walked through the doorway, Noire and Lid descended down a Staircase, still beneath the ground by the way. "Looks like we will have to advance through another open area…" Lid summarized, already scanning the layout of the staircase for any signs of demonic presence. Her Solid Eye whirred to life in this process, as evident by the sounds it made which sort of calmed Noire slightly. Still, she did wonder where the heck this place could have led, and if there were a way they could find whoever was behind all of this. She didn't know if they were even heading in the correct direction, which sucked considering the time limit they were under.

As they descended, the mentioned CPU glanced to the left side, quickly noticing something odd that she felt necessary to point out. "Hey, isn't that some kind of… kart?" she questioned, noting the metal kart attached to some kind of rail similar to those grind rails in those games involving that robot/lombax duo. Under her watchful eye, Noire also sensed the presence of Wards placed on the Kart, Wards she figured were to do with motion, but there could have been different uses mixed in as well. There were multiple railings, which implied to her that there would be multiple karts, one on one side and vice versa.

Lid, at hearing her words, looked to the place Noire gestured towards, and her lips pursed at the Kart. "Interesting. It appears that this cart is the only way across, implying that we will likely be ambushed on it. Limited fighting space on a moving platform is not ideal for some-one like myself, however I will be able to manage." Lid remarked, calculations and scenarios flowing through her mind in rapid succession. Afterwards, she glanced at her divine com-panion, her eye shining with a desire for confirmation. "What say you, Lady Noire?"

"I'm good. Some of my weapons won't be ideal, but not too many." Noire replied, the two stepping off the staircase and onto the Kart itself. Since there wasn't any other indicator of where they could go, it didn't seem like they would have any other option but to take the kart ride. Not to mention that Lid did bring up a valid point, that any large-scale attacks, heck even their larger AOE attacks may not be as effective since they could have damaged

At first nothing happened, but then several gear-turning sounds resonated through the underground chamber. The entrance the girls took onto the kart's centre suddenly shut itself, and soon afterwards the Kart began to shoot across the rail. Taking two shrieking female warriors along for what would inevitably be called a 'ride from hell'.

* * *

Just like they predicted, Noire and Lid soon got ambushed by more Demons.

This came to be due to the forms of Hell Prides appearing around them. Because of the limited space, there were only about 4 of them, but there were 3 more Hell Gluttonies, and a Hell Wrath which followed suit, making a truly diverse set of Demons to attack the two maiden warriors with.

Warriors who had plentiful amounts of battle experience against them.

The moment that they appeared, Noire and Lid sprang into action. As the one who got to her opponents first, Noire drew out Nevular, swiftly decapitating one Hell Pride's head then crouching down low to dodge a Scythe slash to her neck, then she sweep kicked the offending Demon off its feet and vertically swung her sword up using the momentum. This resulted in the electric sword swiftly chopping the Demon in half with barely any resistance made against it, though Noire had to pivot herself sideways to dodge a blast of sand aimed at her by a Hell Gluttony. She then drew out Luce and Ombra after flipping her Nevular into the air, shooting the creature several times in the face until the spinning blade fell down backwards her.

Her eyes flashed as her ZANDATSU activated, slowing time before her as Noire noticed her blade's descent, an idea flashing into her mind. As it came down, the blackette swiftly raised Luce towards her opponent… right as the blade's handle angled itself during its spin to a perfectly horizonal position. Just before this though, she'd launched a single bullet from the Handgun in question, a bullet which landed right into the centre of the rear handle, which resulted in the blade being sent flying towards the Hell Gluttony. The blade, as fast and sharp as it was, impaled the Demon easily through the head, Noire vanishing and appearing behind it to catch the blade onto her right foot before it could fly away. She then used the momentum to launch herself away from the approaching Hell Wrath then peppered the damn thing with bullets from BOTH Handguns till it exploded.

Meanwhile, Lid herself dashed in the opposite direction of her companion Goddess, heading towards another Hell Pride. The Demon screeched as it swung it's Scythe at a speed which no normal human would have been able to perceive, though Lid would not be considered a normal human. Never again. With those feelings in mind, Lid's lone eye narrowed into a dark stare, all the while she crouched under the swing, then hopped into a front flip. She ended up landing on the Hell Pride's shoulders, wrapping her legs around her opponent's neck before backflipping and smashing the Hell Pride headfirst into the Kart beneath them. She smashed it with enough force to daze it, then she twisted herself till she heard the deadly 'crack' sound, signifying its death.

She quickly stood up afterwards, raising her leg and planting her foot onto the shaft of an approaching Scythe, smirking at the Hell Pride which tried to pull a fast one on her. She glanced sideways to note the Hell Gluttony prepping to pepper her with its Sad blast attack, though she didn't want that to happen. Thus, she would have to change that, something she would only do once this Hell Pride bit the dust. That decided, Lid used the Scythe's shaft as a medium to hop into the air, twist herself around and launch a kick to the perpetrator's head. The Demon shrieked its last at that moment, as the foot planted itself into its face with a sickening CRUNCH. It had done so with such force that the Hell Pride's face had practically SWEPT itself backwards a full 180 degrees backwards, killing it instantly.

Landing on the Kart (not that easy to do since it moved quite fast), Lid immediately sensed the incoming danger, and rolled across the limited space to avoid a sand blast from another Hell Gluttony. Knowing that the creature would take time to launch another one based off previous battle instances, Lid rolled back to her feet by using the momentum, and then dashed towards it, sliding beneath its legs whilst slicing through them several times with a few well-placed knife slashes. Previous fights against the same enemy type taught her where to slash in order to make their limbs lose functionality, kind of like destroying one's tendons. Getting up whilst it fell onto its knees with a surprised shriek, Lid swiftly pulled out a Bazooka from her Inventory, holding it in one hand before she blasted the Demon to kingdom come with nothing left behind, not even caring about the recoil since she had been used to this kind of thing.

It was at this point, that the silver haired girl noticed Noire up in the air shooting down at the Hell Wrath until it exploded, causing her to smirk to herself. 'Lady Noire dealt with that one then… there should be more coming for us soon, however…' she thought, already feeling like the intensity in the atmosphere born from battle hadn't abated in the slightest. Something which got proven correct moments later, when another kart slid up to their opposite side, carrying a group of Enigmas with some supporting Hell Gluttonies. The moment it halted next to them, more Demons appeared in their Kart, consisting of Hell Lusts, Hell Sloths and a couple Hell Greeds as well.

'Tch, this doesn't look good…' Lid thought, seeing the Demons gang up on Noire after determining her to be more of a threat. As much as she bristled about being dismissed so easily, she couldn't really fault them on that logic since Noire definitely had more power than she did, but instead of focusing on it she focused on the more important problem at hand. The Demons on the other kart may be easy to handle, but they would prove annoying since they were on a separate kart, especially for Noire who had few ranged attack options. Plus, the ones on their Kart would make sure to stop her from advancing towards them to make things easier on herself, so that meant it fell to her to take them out.

Well, that suited Lid just fine, honestly…

She would have preferred to be able to use Fuuma's other Noble Phantasm though. The reason this was so had been due to how it amped up her physical abilities to a higher level, a level similar to having the power of a Heroic Spirit stacked on top of her already impressive attributes. However, her Heroic Spirit had forbidden it, sealing it away for the time being. The reasoning it had was that, due to the exact nature of that Noble Phantasm, Lid wouldn't be able to handle it as her mind was not strong enough, and even if it was she would still inherit traits of the Berserker Class Heroic Spirits like the Mad Enhancement trait. 'No matter, the important thing is that I take care of the rear guard so Lady Noire has less to worry about on the front lines…'

With that in mind, Lid called out to her companion whilst getting ready to make her move. "Lady Noire!" Lid's voice reached her, causing Noire to look over in her direction. "We have more company but leave them to me! You focus on the enemies here; I'll take on the other Kart!"

"Alright, got it!"

With that done, Lid smirked to herself, her own eye lighting up as she got into a crouching position in prep for the following run. Dealing with enemies on a Kart of her own felt like something much more preferable in her eyes, if one asked Lid. No offence to Noire, but she had been fighting these enemies for so long on her own, so having to fight with another after a while threw her off her game. This would be some good stress relief, if she had ever seen it. One Hell Sloth noticed her and quickly figured out what she intended however and made to teleport beside her and stop Lid from accomplishing her objective. Unfortunately for it the Demon had been just a TAD too slow, and as such Lid managed to get a running head start then jumped through the air.

The young maiden flipped about through the air, dodging some energy arrows and kicking others away. Whilst flipping, she pulled out some machine guns from her Inventory and used her superior aerial position to launch a shower of bullets onto her foes below, knocking them off their feet. This gave her the chance she needed, and thus Lid spiralled downwards and crashed into the kart's centre. Luckily for her, these things had been sturdy enough that this didn't cause them to lurch about like boats rocked by waves in a massive storm.

Quickly before her opponents could stand up, Lid got to her feet, switching from her machine guns to her Combat knife, her lips curved into a sneer as her eye flashed with bloodlust. "Welcome to your graves, soon-to-be tactically eliminated foes!" she bellowed, before jumping forth into a slaughter of her own.

And so, the fighting continued…


	25. Chapter 25 - Beowulf and old friend (?)

**Chapter 25 - Beowulf and an old friend (?)**

The fighting took about 40 minutes this time, and this had simply been one of the most adrenaline-fuelled fights as of yet.

Thing about this fight was, that their previous battles with these Demons had been intense in their own rights, the secret missions Noire possessed definitely attributed to this. That would to be a disputed fact in their minds, however there was a little something about this battle. This fight had an advantage over them in the form of the limited fighting space provided by the Karts, Karts of which Noire and Lid had to struggle like all hell to maintain their spaces on whilst trying not to get thrown overboard. Something which Lid almost had befall her more than once thanks to the Hell Gluttonies sometimes pulling fast ones on her with their sand blasts. The two girls fought on one Kart at first, as stated in the previous chapter, though as the fighting progressed there seemed to be more and more Karts being drawn to them, karts filled to the brim with lethal enemies of the ranged variety. It had allowed Noire and Lid to realize one thing: their battle plan.

To distract them and keep the girls in one space throughout the whole fight belonged to the close combat type Demons. The close ranged fighters like the Hell Lusts, Hell Prides, Hell Sloths, Hell Wraths and Hell Gluttonies for example would fit in this category, even making use of the limited space by having their slower members appear first to take as much space as possible in order to disguise their real attacks. Attacks which either came from the Hell Gluttonies or the Hell Sloths with their quick teleportation abilities. These attacks often came at high speeds, and from unpredictable manoeuvres as well which made dealing with them increasingly difficult. Noire and Lid would normally deal with each enemy in one shot due to having experiences these types many times before, but thanks to the erratic movements and their restricted space, the two girls had more than enough trouble.

This would only be part ONE of their offensive however, and THAT part became pretty apparent in the next moment after the initial fighting.

Lid, whom had jumped onto that approaching second Kart to take out the Enigmas, didn't realize it till the last moment, but these Karts would only be around temporarily, and then they would vanish off into he distance. This would allow new Karts packed to the brim with ranged attacking Demons to take their places, continuing their lengthy barrage of attacks onto the Kart of which Noire would reside. Every time this happened, Lid would have to jump back onto the main Kart lest she be carried off as well to who knows where, not something she would be willing to risk as being lost in a Labyrinth would be considered HELL for her.

Another thing they had discovered would have been the lack of friendly fire on the Demons side, something which sort of blew their minds and also was something they had been expecting for some time now at the same moment. It didn't matter if they hit their own comrades either, a theory the blackette had tested when she had noticed one energy arrow descending on her position then hid behind a Hell Pride to dodge it. It's kind of laid bare, what fate befell that Demon in that moment, though it made her think back to the few times she had seen this in the past. That thought process made both women not just Noire, realize just how little Demons cared about injuring each other to get what they wanted.

Even with all this though, none of the Demons survived, and countless Souls got absorbed by Noire's Appetite Demon, fuelling and strengthening her Devil Trigger power.

By the time the battle ended, Noire and Lid found that their ride would be coming to an end when the Kart began slowing down. Neither of them spoke on this, already knowing of the other's awareness of the matter. Up ahead, they could see a rapidly approaching stone walkway, linked to a set of stairs which led to a doorway embedded within the underground. Likely, this meant they would be entering more of the Temen-Ni-Gru at this point, changing the scenery once more. By the time the Kart had finally stopped moving, Noire and Lid saw its gate slide downwards, allowing them to step away from the vehicle and onto the walkway. To their surprise, the vehicle didn't move away from its resting spot, a curious thought which filled their minds.

Lid was the one who commented on this matter first, though. "Looks like this Vehicle exists solely to transport passengers from this section of the Tower back to the section before." She noted, before dismissing the matter as not important in her mind. They had more crucial matters to attend to after all, something which Noire agreed with alongside her action of nodding her head. The two then proceeded to walk along the stone walkway, up the short stairs and over to the main doorway.

During that moment, Noire decided to enter a conversation with Siegfried after she had expanded her senses, thus picking up something behind the approaching doorway. 'Hey Siegfried, can you…?' she began to think, keeping her features schooled whilst idly glancing at Lid. Though her features seemed similar to her own, the blackette noticed a faint look of vacantness in her eyes, something which Rik had once told her was the sign that one with tenants in them like her had when they were in communication. This meant that, right now, Lid wouldn't respond to any of her questions due to being in communication with her Heroic Spirit, Fuuma Kotarou. 'There's something behind these doors…'

_… Indeed, likely it is one of those stronger Demons like Nevan and Cerberus. Perhaps it could be considered a 'Guardian' like the rest of them, as each of these Demons seem to have been protecting something or been blocking your way through this Labyrinth-like Tower. However, this just means we must be cautious, as this kind of opponent easily trumped you the last time you fought one. Albeit because you had a moment of recklessness and ran off ahead without fully understanding your current powers. Speaking of which, I must inform you on Rik's request that, at this moment, your current Devil Trigger is capable of remaining active for a total of 15 minutes total, taking into account the stress of Combat which you will be fulfilled with inevitably. Should you try to fight a more defensive approach, you will last up to 30 minutes in Devil Trigger form before you revert. Be careful, Noire…_

'Okay, got it.' Noire replied, frowning to herself. Remembering her humiliating 'defeat' back in that Opera House caused her blood to boil, though she could only have blamed herself for rushing in no matter what excuses she made for herself. Still, she got some benefits out of it, so it wasn't ALL bad at least. Plus, now she had a better understanding of her Devil Trigger state so she wouldn't lose as quickly if the opponent was stronger than her, not to mention her Nevular being added to her arsenal. Still, she took Siegfried's words to heart, he was both her senior and her mentor in all of this so why wouldn't she?

Part of Noire wondered if she had become out of character in terms of what she had been through this whole story, but then she stopped focusing on that matter when Lid, who had stepped close to the door, placed her hand on it and pushed it open, allowing the two to walk inside.

* * *

Emerging through the door, both Noire and Lid walked into a square-shaped room… one which appeared to be a square shaped one. What was curious about this room however, would be that not only did it look smaller than the previous rooms (throwing them of slightly due to being used to the large underground chambers already) but it also appeared to be surrounded by these large cages, shaped like they would be able to contain a fully-grown person. Noire herself frowned upon seeing this, images of Leanbox's underground Dungeons she'd read up on flashing through her mind. 'This place must really have been made by someone with similar tastes to those workmen, huh…' she couldn't help but comment mentally.

"Lady Noire, please watch your step." Lid urged as she took a single step forwards, making it so that she would be in front of Lastation's Goddess. She then raised her hand and placed I on her Solid Eye, several whirring sounds resounding through the isolated room as she attempted to look around for any signs of danger. "I cannot visualize any kind of traps or hidden enemies in the vicinity, nonetheless it is dangerous to go rushing ahead." She advised the CPU regardless of her findings.

"Lid, lets-"

**"GGGRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGHHHHH!"**

Just as Noire made to give some advice for her companion, Noire and Lid's eyes widened and tension filled their lungs. In the next second, Noire burst forth into a md sprint, her form quickly unleashing it's Devil Trigger form to use the shockwave to launch Lid flying into the air. Lid, whilst momentarily stunned by Noire's transformation, quickly regained her sense of composure and flipped several times through the air, landing on the ground opposite to where she had once stood with Noire, now Abyss Heart, floating beside her with Chaoseater right beside her. "L-Lady Noire, that-"

"Focus on something else Lid, we have some company on our hands!"

Abyss Heart's yell cut through Lid's words, causing her to look at where they had once been, which turned out to be a good thing since the two girls managed to perceive a large, black shadow suddenly leaping towards them with several claws barred to rip through their entire torsos. Loud exclamations escaped id's throat as she swiftly hopped to one side, Abyss Heart strafing to the other but both managed to evade the claws… though only by the skin of their teeth.

'Fast!' Abyss Heart thought as she halted her motion, holding Chaoseater in two hands as she got into her battle stance. This one, compared to the full might of her Sword Mistress Stance, would be classed as inferior, but since Chaoseater didn't have much of an affinity towards that stance, Abyss Heart decided against using that stance with this blade. The fact she could even think about this stuff whilst in a battle situation spoke volumes about her composure in this form.

Looking up and towards the creature, Noire glowered at it whilst taking in its appearance. The creature before her, which heaved and panted like it had been struggling to contain something within, took the shape of a large, black fur-covered lion-like creature. The creature's size easily rivalled that of a Lorry's when it stood on all fours, though when it stood up it would reach the 15-meter mark. It also appeared to be missing one eye, having a single diagonal scar running across it. It's form had two humanoid-looking chitinous claws for hands, whilst its hind legs looked like they were made from some form of Armour, with a long Scorpion-like Tail protruding from its backside. Also there seemed to be some protrusions coming out of its back, but she wasn't so sure. Lastly, these light-like veins pulsated ass they ran up through the creature's arms.

**"GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODDDDDDDDDEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS…!"**

"Eh?" When their attacker suddenly spoke, or rather yelled out that one word which sook the entire room, Abyss Heart became baffled and confused. The way it spoke that name, with all that hatred and sheer toxic venom poured into every syllable, became enough to catch her by surprise. Did it just say… Goddess just now? And, why did she get the feeling that it was talking about her right now? Of course, Abyss Heart knew she would be the only Goddess being in this room, but since she had Devil Triggered, she didn't believe this thing wold be able to tell her identity. So, what the heck was going on here?

**"… YES… this SMELL…. It is FAMILIAR to me! The SMELL of THAT accursed GODDESS! That DAMNED slut… SHE must HAVE multiplied WHILE we were AWAY…!"**

Instead of actually looking at her and Lid, who had already begun silently creeping up to the back of the creature… whilst concealed by a Cardboard box (something she would have sweat dropped at in her human form), the Demon before her began to ramble on as if it remained in its own little world. Not going to lie, Abyss Heart got a little bit pissed at this, especially when out of reflex, she sniffed herself. "Hey, I do NOT smell! Rude asshole, you're one of the worst Demons by far!" she bellowed, furiously. First there had been Nevan who called her ugly, and now here was a Demon saying she goddamn SMELLED! Just how far are they going to go to piss her off?!

They were REALLY asking to be fed to her Appetite Demon, weren't they?

**"I… I will ERADICATE every LAST TRACE of the ACCURSED GODDESS! GRRRAAAAAAAHHH!"**

With a vicious glare escaping towards Abyss Heart through the Demon's sole undamaged eye, the Demonic Lion howled as the protrusions on its bac suddenly extended, showing themselves as 4 large bird-like wings. From their eruption, a shower of brilliant white feathers fell from them, slowly descending down towards the ground. All the while, Abyss Heart readied Chaoseater, glancing idly towards Lid who made a series of hand gestures towards her. Those gestures pretty much screamed at her what the silverette planned to do, causing her to frown mentally. 'Siegfried… how many times can Lid unleash her Noble Phantasm?'

_… About twice at most, Abyss Heart. That Noble Phantasm is a particularly draining one, and she has already used it once today. I wouldn't be surprised if she faints right after this one…_

'Got it. I'll just have to kill this thing before she can get the chance to use it, then!'

**(Play OST - DMC3 Beowulf Theme)**

The first to move between the three of them, turned out to be the Demon, as it instantly jumped towards her. Seeing it coming, Abyss Heart promptly responded as she raised Chaoseater to the skies above then brought it down in a traditional downward Kendo slash. This resulted in her blocking the first slash that came from the Demon, only for it to swing its other claw, which glowed brighter when the swipe got launched, into an upward swing. Abyss Heart strafed backwards to dodge it, but then had to raise Chaoseater to block an overhead smash which would have flattened her if she hadn't.

Gritting her teeth, Abyss Heart's form trembled as she pushed against the creature's glowing claw, both it and her weapon shaking violently from the deadlock they had found themselves in. 'Guess this guy specializes In CQC like me then, this strength feels MUCH greater than Nevan!' Abyss Heart thought as she channelled Ice into the sword, giving Chaoseater a pale blue aura with smoke-like vapour covering its frame.

Since the limb still touched it when this happened, the limb slowly started getting frozen over when Ice began to materialize from the point of their connection. This would end up being something the Demon noticed early on, forcing it to break their deadlock. However, Abyss Heart dared not let it get any more ground, so she took advantage of this opportunity and burst forth into a straight flight pattern. She aimed for the arm which had been partially frozen over, and instead of ice she switched over to fire. Chaoseater, at this, became bathed in a cloak of wildly burning crimson flames, before she slashed at the already damaged arm.

FWOOOOOOOOOOOSH!

Right after she slashed and flew out towards its rear flank, the wound she dished out erupted with an explosion of pure crimson fire. Flames which consumed the entire arm with enough speed to rival professional Olympic athletes. 'Yes! The first and second hits go to me!' she thought, a smug smirk forming on her lips. It felt like a huge contrast to the battle with Nevan where she had been put onto the defensive for the majority of the battle due to Nevan's battle style, making her sigh in relief as it felt to her like this battle would be much easier than the previous-

**"AAAARRRRGH! Damn, BITCH! Useless SLUT! It WILL take MORE than THAT to kill BEOWULF! GUUUUUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHH!"**

Just as she began monologuing, it quickly got cut off by what followed after her attack. The Demon, furious beyond words at how it had been damaged by her strike, just howled as it spun around like a tornado, kicking up a massive headwind which drew everything around it close enough for it to strike should I have pleased. Abyss Heart however, had managed to escape this possibility thanks to stabbing Chaoseater into the ground before her, using the sword as a crutch. 'Heh, is that all its got?!' she thought, a taunting smirk on her lips. 'It'll take more than that, to…'

She soon stopped her train of thought when she remembered someone else, someone who would likely NOT be able to resist the pull. "Oh scrap, LID!" Abyss Heart called out as she reached forth with her free arm, swiftly grabbing onto a certain flailing silverette who came flying passed her, gasping for breath. She repeatedly gasped after Abyss Heart had grabbed her, flailing about in her grasp like a flag on a windy day, yet she still held on. "Hold on, I got you!"

"L-Lady Noire, this is bad! M-My Box! My beloved box!"

"Of all the things you choose to worry about, you choose your BOX?!"

Ignoring the incredulous look Abyss Heart had on her features right now, Lid looked towards where her Box lay, the item having been forcibly yanked out of her grasp by the strength behind the headwind, before being pulled into the Demon's striking range. At long last, the Demon, Abyss Heart recalling at that moment it calling itself Beowulf, stopped rotating to show that it had extinguished the flames on its arm. Though it looked like it had been covered in moderately serious burns, with a flare of its demonic power, the wounds healed up rather quickly. 'Tch, geez! That healing ability should be hax!' Abyss Heart raged inside her mind in annoyance. She of course had been aware that Demons could use their energy to heal from wounds, but she didn't expect this one to be able to do it as easily as breathing.

Not only that… if it could heal so quickly, then why could it not just heal the scar on its face and restore its eyesight? That question soon left her mind however, when Beowulf howled and leapt towards her, swiping both claws at them. Reacting promptly, Abyss Heart tossed Lid up into he air then followed after her, causing the Demon to shoot right below them instead. However, her eyes widened when she felt the creatures tail hook itself around her left foot, causing her to bite back a curse when she got hurled about like a rag doll, then tossed into a faraway wall. "Guh!"

* * *

"Lady Noire!" Lid called out, before cursing as she barely dodged a glowing punch to her face by the Demon. She'd dodged it through sheer acrobatics, bending herself around the limb then planted her feet into it to use it as a springboard, propelling herself away from the Demon. Flipping through the air multiple times, Lid landed on the ground with a loud THUD, sliding along it till she halted. Gripping her Combat knife in the reverse position, the silverette looked up to glare at Beowulf… whom had focused its attention on Abyss Heart once more, once again forgetting about her existence, giving Lid the feeling of being seen as a piece of garbage. Something which caused hr to growl under her breath in anger, her pride feeling like it had been sucker punched. 'Tch, fighting so many Demons in this place has made me act more like a warrior than an assassin…' she realized in her mind, forcefully suppressing her anger for the time being.

Though, one couldn't really blame her for her shift in behavior. Lid may have had experience in leading men into battle as a General, she may know what kind of formations to use, what kind of enemies were the most effected by her troops' equipment, but the Demons were not something that she had much experience in when comparing the two. She'd lost count how many times they had gotten the drop on her, even when she had thought she'd adapted to their tricks, if it weren't for her highly trained reflexes and battle-hardened instincts, Lid didn't doubt she would have lost her head many times over by now. Her tactics, her abilities to ambush the enemy, they were practically useless since these things hunted in ways she couldn't even imagine. They pretty much broke the rules of physics every single moment they remained alive.

This information mildly discouraged her, until Lid caught sight of Abyss Heart dodging the Demon's attacks like a boss and her eyes hardened in determination. She slowly got into a four-limbed dog-like stance holding her Knife at the ready whilst her body began to glow in an ominous green aura. Since she focused more on striking the enemy's vitals, she should just stick to wat she was most specialized in. Her Solid Eye, thankfully undamaged so far, whirred to life as she began analysing her opponent so she could find the right chance to use her Noble Phantasm. Whilst draining on her energy, it would serve as her best chance of attack, dealing the most amount of damage. 'Plus since there's only one opponent, my Noble Phantasm can focus on it alone, which will increase its power.' She added in her mind.

Thus, Lid went back into waiting for her chance to strike, hoping for the CPU's safety even if her current form had been the opposite of what she had expected.

* * *

Back with Abyss Heart…

'All those Demon Souls I consumed, and I only gained a measly 3 minutes…'

A wave of irritation swept through Abyss Heart's mind as she 'tched' to herself, sensing her power beginning to deactivate after 5 minutes of combat. That meant her power so far could only be used for up to 8 minutes and considering how drawn out these fights tended to be that would be hardly anything of note. Kind of irritating if one asked her, but it just went to show the difference between absorbing stronger Demon Souls compared to absorbing those of the more cannon fodder-like enemies.

After she thought this, Abyss Heart quickly ascended upwards to dodge the swipe of one of Beowulf's claws, the Demon swiping at her with its tail that she managed to dodge by re-angling herself this time. Once it landed on the ground on all fours, Beowulf used the momentum to spin itself right around, unfurling its four wings in order to take flight and charge right at her. Abyss Heart quickly began raising Chaoseater, equipping Lightning to it which manifested as a purple aura around the blade, with sparks of Lightning streaking across its frame.

The two weapons, her Chaoseater and its claws, coated in their respective elements, clashed in a rather brutal manner, causing two streaks of light and Lightning to envelop the two for a brief moment before a unseen force pushed them both back. Abyss Heart flipped herself backwards to regain her balance, whilst Beowulf landed on the side of a wall, gripping it with its four appendages before spreading its wings again and charging right at her once more, this time having used the wall as a springboard. Its speed proved greater this time, and as such Abyss Heart could only have sharply descended downwards to avoid it, the Demon managing to alter its course through some… admittingly impressive acrobatics in order to chase after her.

**"NO Goddess WILL escape ME! They SHALL all FALL by MY hands!"**

'Geez, this guy should really take anger management classes, or is it that Demons have one track minds...?'

Abyss Heart growled beneath her breath at this as she flew cross the entire room, circling abut whilst parrying and deflecting each Light attack headed her way. The thing was, this Light-wielding Demon, something she could hardly believe even existed since light and darkness are normally not meant to co-exist, really kept her on her toes throughout this whole fight. It had quickly shown her that even though she could fly about like a bug on a windshield, it all meant jack shit in comparison to it who could also fly, as well as fly much faster than her by empowering its Wings with light energy. It wasn't something she could do with her own Wings, since that wasn't how they worked. Instead, all she could do right now would be to empower her entire body with Demonic Power, thus allowing her to move slightly faster than normal, though it soon had proven itself inferior to the light-speed that this Demon seemed to be capable of moving at.

Plus it seemed to know how to fight within these kinds of closed spaces to take advantage of them, whilst Abyss Heart herself lacked that kind of training.

Landing on the ground before it, Abyss Heart slid to a halt whilst jabbing Chaoseater into the ground to halt herself. She then pulled it out and raised it up high, blocking an overhead strike from the Demon's right claw which could have smacked her into next week. She gritted her teeth as she pumped her sword full of Wind, the sword gaining a light grayish color to its aura whilst hurricane gales shot over it's form like an extra layer of skin. This allowed her to swing the blade downwards with the claw's weight used to heighten the impact force, the result being an eruption of wind which forced the Demon to take a couple unsteady steps backwards, though it didn't fall down yet.

Upon noticing this, a flash of excitement swept across Abyss Heart's features. 'Yes, this is it!' she screamed mentally, not letting herself lose this opportunity to knock the Demon down. She raised her wind-covered sword and began combining both fire and wind together, creating a larger version of Chaoseater made predominantly out of flames, with winds surrounding it to fan the flames intensity further. "HAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH...!" Abyss Heart glowered, her slitted power button symbols glowing brightly as she swung her large fiery sword towards the Demon's feet before it could react. More growls of agony erupted from Beowulf when this attack connected, but more than that it connected with the back of its shins and had enough power behind it to completely knock its remaining balance over. As a result, the massive creature howled as both flames consumed its Legs as well as how it fell to the ground into a stunned mess.

"Lid, NOW!"

"On it! Taste my IMMORTAL CHAOS BRIGADE!"

Lid, whose lone red eye shined with excitement at the opportunity presented before her, quickly gathered the remaining energy necessary for the activation of her Noble Phantasm. Inside her, she felt all that energy travel into her hand which she had pointed towards the enemy whilst Abyss Heart retreated, their surroundings quickly shifting into a darkness-formed void. Not a single spec of anything else save for Lid herself, Abyss Heart and the stunned Demon could be seen thanks to this, prompting the Demon to struggle even harder to regain its balance.

**"What TRICKERY is THIS?!"**

"Just a little warning for your passage into the next world: DON'T FUCK WITH LASTATION!"

In that moment, Lid clenched her fists as dozens of light green spiritual bodies manifested around the downed Beowulf, numbering at the 200 mark. Its lone undamaged eye could only widen in horror and shock at this development, whilst Abyss Heart looked like she had seen something completely alien to her. 'This... this is Lid's Noble Phantasm...?' she mumbled in her mind, making sure to watch everything to its final conclusion so she wouldn't miss a thing going on here.

_...Indeed. When you hypothesized the versatility of Noble Phantasms, you really had no clue about how versatile they really could be. Noble Phantasms aren't just physical objects, you now know this for a fact..._

True, Siegfried's words made her think back to when Lid had first described her Noble Phantasm to her back when they had their little heart-to-heart talk. She remembered wondering in confusion about how the Noble Phantasm would work in practice, though this had been based off her assumption that they would activate through physical mediums such as swords or other weapons. Showed what she knew then.

Before her, the many spiritual bodies all converged on the same target, concentrating the Noble Phantasms power into a single point and enemy, which resulted in...

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

**"GUUUUUUUUUUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"**

* * *

A colossally large eruption of infernal, blazing light green flames immediately consumed Beowulf's form, concealing it from view yet also showing them just how much damage that they had begun dishing out onto the Demon through the flailing masses of scorched flesh which occasionally burst out of them, only to fall back inside moments later. Whilst this happened, the darkness around them eventually reverted back to their original surroundings, the flames soon following suit after a moment of persisting even after their darkness had vanished.

'Holy...'

Abyss Heart almost couldn't believe what she had seen. It had been one of the most surreal experiences she had ever felt in her life, watching the previously towering and overbearing Beowulf, which had once completely dominated her throughout their fighting, be reduced to the following sight before her. Now, instead of the nigh-impossible to catch Demon she had been fighting before, instead all she saw was this twitching mass of scorched flesh, smelling just as bad as it looked too which caused her to clutch her nose to try and extinguish the horrid smell. The Demon lay on it's back, badly scorched with erratically twitching limbs such as its left leg and its tail, which showed several holes along its frame due to the flames having been devouring it without mercy. Not to mention there were several trails of smoke which rose off its charred form, its already black fur now making it resemble more of a large piece of charcoal than an actual living being.

She almost felt some pity there... like, an ant-sized dot before it got squished by her Demonic instincts.

'So... THAT's how Lid's Noble Phantasm works, huh...?' the Devil Triggered CPU remarked in her mind, shuddering slightly with a suppressed feeling of nervousness emerging within her gut when she glanced at the exhausted, heavily panting Lid who sat on her knees in the Japanese sitting position with a newfound wariness of her. 'I do NOT want that kind of thing on me, it looked almost as bad as it would have felt, surely...' Sure, she knew that Anti-Army Noble Phantasms had much greater power than anti-unit ones, since they of course were meant to destroy entire armies of foes at once. However, seeing how one worked other than her own Noble Phantasm Balmung worked in battle made her acknowledge these Noble Phantasm things as truly dangerous tools. 'It doesn't help that the power to destroy an entire army was focused entirely onto one point either, that kind of power concentrated could be even more dangerous than it normally should be too...'

_...I also sense that Beowulf's power is incredibly low right now, but it is still alive, albeit barely. It appears that it used the majority of its power to heal the wounds it received from those flames before they could completely incinerate it. As a result, it survived the Noble Phantasm, but does not appear like it intends to carry on fighting..._

Siegfried's words rung through Abyss Heart's mind whilst she looked towards Beowulf, only to indeed see that it had slowly begun getting to its feet. Its injuries looked to be slowly healing themselves, but the speed of which only seemed to match the speed of the laziest of Turtles in comparison to what it had before. Groans and grunts escaped it's damaged throat, and when the two girls noticed its face they both saw that its eyes seemed to have been... melted shut, unable to be opened ever again as morbid as the injury looked.

**"The ODIOUS one whose BLOOD pumps the SCENT of that GODDESS! Though my SIGHT is GONE, your SCENT is KNOWN to ME! I shall HUNT you for ETERNITY, if I must! I will NOT rest until I rid the WORLD of YOUR foul STENCH!"**

With that proclamation, Beowulf stood at its full height, unleashing its bird wings from its back. Just like with the rest of its body, its Wings looked to be just a step away from crumbling into nothingness, like that one child who made his own wings out of clay but fell to the earth when he flew too close to the sun. Rearing back its legs, Beowulf leap up towards a higher ledge, up to the top of the room which had a hole going through it, until it jumped out and away from view.

* * *

It was over...

They had won.

Now without any sign of enemies around her, Abyss Heart finally let herself sigh in relief, knowing that this battle had ended as she reverted to her human form, landing on the ground before kneeling from exhaustion. "Ugh... Guh... well, that was a ringer..." she mumbled under her breath, before her eyes twitched in irritation. She didn't like the thought that this Demon would be hunting her down for eternity, and she didn't doubt that it wouldn't follow through on its promise either, though her worry had been more geared towards her people rather than herself. She herself could handle this creature just fine, she had the tools necessary to kill it though it would likely be a drawn-out fight, but the rest of her people in Lastation didn't have that advantage under her belt. Maybe some Spec Ops Agents could, but she wasn't completely sure on that.

Lid's visage flashed through her mind, and Noire's eyes shot open wide as she sharply turned her head to look at her companion. "Lid, are you alright?!" she yelled, quickly getting up and jogging over to her companion, kneeling beside her. Lid looked like she had seen better days with how heavily she panted, sweat dropping from her forehead like a shower of rain.

"I-I'm fine, Lady Noire..." Lid eventually managed to say, weakly lifting her head up before she shifted herself into a batter sitting position. She wouldn't lie though, she felt like absolute crap in the stamina department, something which both she herself AND Noire had seen as the truth. "Just... gotta rest up a bit, you focus on moving forward... i'll catch up with you..." she muttered, pointing forth towards something up ahead. Noire, whilst trying to hide her worry from her companion, looked up to where she had pointed, and there she laid eyes on what looked like an... altar of sorts, surrounded by what looked like human skulls (Noire shuddered at this). On top of the altar, there looked to be a round purple spherical object, something which reminded her of the blue orb she had kicked like a football into its rightful place to further advance.

'That, that looks like something we can use for that turning bridge...!' Noire thought in realization, slowly getting up after nodding in assurance to Lid. She then slowly stepped forth towards it, the metallic clanking of her armored greaves filling the room and offering a slightly comforting feeling to her. 'I recall there being one more doorway back there... this must be what I will need for further advancement deeper into the Temen-Ni-Gru. Hopefully once I do this there won;t be too many puzzles left, cause all this is just starting to get ridiculous now...'

Those thoughts filled her mind as she started reaching for the Sphere...

_...Wait, NOIRE STOP!..._

Siegfried quickly noticed something was wrong and just went to try and stop Noir from touching the Sphere, but he had acted JUST a little too late. The moment her hand grasped onto the object and held it before her at a torso level, Noire began to feel something going wrong. Almost immediately, her stamina began to plummet as waves upon waves of exhaustion hit her harder than a truck going at full speeds. A muted gasp escaped her lips several time as she tried to breathe, only to be only able to take short breaths at a time. It almost felt like something had begun choking the very life out of her. Her eyes widened in shock as she tried to get some form of a breathing routine going, all the while falling onto one knee. "Guh…. ack, gack… what's... going on? What's... happening here...?" she tired to say, but it came out as ineligible babbling as saliva began seeping out her mouth.

"L-Lady Noire...!" Lid called out, her own eye widening in horror as she saw the CPU go down the way she did, quickly making to get over to her so she could offer what little support she could to the CPU. Part of her wanted to know what the heck had just happened, but the majority of her worried about Noire's safety right now, as even she would have figured out that it had to do with the Sphere in her right hand right now. But, before she could do anything, Lid found herself being pinned to the ground when a pair of feet suddenly planted themselves onto her back, stopping her from moving.

This new feeling, quickly got followed by some borderline maniacal laughter.

"HAAAAAHAHAHAHAHA, WELL, THIS IS AMAZING! EVEN THE HALF DEMON GODDESS ISN'T A MATCH FOR IT!"

Noire, even in her current state, quickly recognized the owner of the high-pitched voice which stopped her from taking most the stuff it said seriously, as well as caused her to groan in annoyance. 'Oh great, this guy again...' she thought to herself as she shakily raised her head to look upwards, soon meeting the long-nose stare of a certain purple clad clown creature named Jester. "Y-You...!" she tried to say, but she could barely speak at the moment.

In that moment though...

The purple Clown made some startled sounds when, out of nowhere, Lid appeared by his side, locking an arm around his neck from behind, and pulled him downwards to her height whilst she kneeled on the ground with a Pistol aimed at his nose. In response to this move, the clown quickly held up his arms in a manner of surrender and helplessness, all the while shivering at the fierce look sported on Lid's face despite the fatigue she had found herself under.

"OH-OOOH! Y-YOU'RE NOT GOING TO SHOOT ME, ARE YOU? I'LL DIE, YOU KNOW?"

"Zip it, asshole." Lid scowled, pushing her Pistol's barrel closer to the man's nose. "You obviously know a lot about this place, but that's not important. If you don't tell us what's happening with Lady Noire, il make shooting you the LEAST of your worries." she stated. It wasn't a threat either, a fact she made VERY clear when she turned off the safety lock on her gun with an audible CLACK sound coming from the weapon.

Yet despite this, Jester remained unperturbed by the impending doom which could befall him at any moment now.

"DON'T BE SO RASH, GIRLIE. I'VE GOT A DOOSY OF A STORY FOR YOU, BUT IF YOU SNUFF OUT MY VOICE LIKE THAT, I WON;T BE ABLE TO TELL IT, NOW WILL I?"

Noire, seeing as Lid was about to lose her patience with this Clown, understood her feelings. She herself wanted nothing more than to put bullets through his head, as even the most rude of officials back in the Basilicom didn't compare to this guy in terms of annoyance. "L-Lid... let him... sp-speak..." she forced out her words, barely making them loud enough for the Agent to hear. However, she wasn't done yet, so Noire worked hard to strain herself in order to speak some more. "H-He... may be... a p-pain, but... he DOES... s-seem to know... ab-about this..."

Hearing Noire's words, and seeing the state hey had reduced her into as a cost of this, caused Lid to reluctantly adhere to her demands after a moment of indeciveness. Stress and fatigue diminished her ability to think rationally and make sound judgements, something which she had once learned from a psychologist she knew who conversed with soldiers about their mental health after missions. Spec OPs Agents too. She remembered her name being Rose-something or other, but that wasn't important. In any case, what was, was the fact that Jester knew something, so she roughly pushed him down to the ground in her way of releasing him.

Jester, thanks to her actions, fell onto his backside, heaving and panting heavily like they were yet wasn't sweating or anything like that.

"HOOO, HOO... PHEW... THOUGHT I WAS A GONNER FOR SURE..."

Jester remarked this, standing on one leg and waving his stick like it were a fan as if to blow away some imaginary sweat. He then returned to the situation at hand, boisterously proclaiming the following.

"OOPS! YOU SAW IT TOO, DIDN'T YOU? THAT HUGE TOWER JUTTINGOUT OF THE GROUND? THAT THICK SHAFT THAT CAUSES WOMEN TO SH-SH-SHUDDERRRRRR...!"

At that moment, the man shuddered himself as if imagining something very... sexual, with the innuendo he launched their way. With how random and out of nowhre it had been, it successfuly caught the two girls off guard as they each blushed crimson, eventhrough their annoyed glares as if to say 'get on with it already!'

"IS ACTUALLY A TUNNEL, LEADING THIIS WORLD OF GAMINDUSTRI, TO A RATHER TWISTED-LOOKING DEMON WORLD, BELONGING TO THE EVER SO SEXUAL SLAANESH HERSELF...AND OF COURSE, YOUR MUTUAL ENEMY, VICIOUS, IS THE ONE WHO CONTROLS IT BY USINGTHE SAME AMULET YOU FOOUND!"

Taking a moment out of explaining, Jester pointed to the groaning Noire's neck, where she had once held the Necklace which she had coveted for a long time. If she were of sound might right now, she would have had a more noticable reaction, but right now alll she could focus on were the guy's words and trying to suupress the feelings of pain gradually starting to course through her body.

"HE'S HEADING INTO THE CONTROL ROOM IN THE BASEMENT #singsong tone#. IF YOU DON'T HOP DOWN THERE LIKE A LITTLE BUNNY #insert Jester bouncing up and down I one spot while turning a full 360#, HE'LL OPEN THE GATE TO HELL! ISN'T THAT A SCARY THOUGHT?"

"A-An d your... telling us th-this... because...?"

Jester ignored Noire's question much to her frustration, and continued on.

"OOPS! I FORGOT TO MENTION ONE TEENY WITTLE ITEM! THAT GIZMO THERE CLUTCHED IN YOUR HAND LIKE A MAN DOES HIS WOMEN'S BREASTS, IS THE KEY TOO MOVE FORWARD. THE TRICKY THING IS, IT SUCKS THE SOULS OF WHOEVER HOLDS IT! SO I THINK YOU'D BETTER HURRY, AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

So that's what this sudden surge of weakness was, this thing was sucking out her soul the longer she held it! Noire came to this realization from Jester's words and thus, tried to drop it, however the orb itself stuck to her skin like glue, making removal practically impossible for her. Great, just what she needed, then. She knew of only one place where this would go, but she could only hope to get there quickly before this thing sucked her soul out completely.

"BUT! IN EXCHANGE FOR YOUR SOUL, IT'LL GIVE YOU POWER! MARVELOUS ISN'T IT? JUST LET YOUR YOUNG SPIRIT DRIVE YOU AND GO FOR IT! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

However, before she could do anything, Jester gave her one last bit of information, all the whilst standing atop some kind of thorny S shaped crane which slowly rose upwards, taking Jester away from the scene. This information alerted her to one important fact, and that would be how her body seemed to be overflowing with Demonic Power despite the weakness she felt inside. Looked like she could Devil Trigger again for the full 8 minutes. 'Wish he'd gone ahead and told me that sooner, that darn moron! Seriously, he reminds me of a crazier, borderline psychotic Neptune of all things...!' she thought to herself, the image of Neptune dressed like a purple clown appearing in her mind. It... oddly seemed quite fitting, believe it or not.

Still, now that she knew what the stakes were, Noire knew one thing: she had to get to out of here, and fast! She could feel the drainage of her soul gradually getting worse as seconds ticked by, so she didn't necessarily have all the time in the world to get this done. Slowly yet surely, Noire struggled to her feet, her arms hanging in front of her whilst gripping the Sphere like it were a heavy weight she struggled to lift. 'This thing...! If I don't get it to the right place for me and Lid to move forwards, i'm gonna be a goner...!' she thought, quickly activating her Devil Trigger.

Glancing over to Lid, the now known Abyss Heart eyed her state with a look of a mix between pain and caution on her features. "Lid... will you be okay?" she questioned. "If you need a rest, it'll be perfectly understandable..."

"No...! I'm good, Lady Noire." Lid responded, struggling to stand upright but managing. Her eyes shined with a determined glint to the as she addressed the demonized CPU. "Demonic Power aside, your still Lastation's CPU, so if I can offer assistance, I'll gladly do so. Let me escort you, i'll make sure you don't suffer too much damage." she proclaimed, though internally worries of whether or not she could keep that promise filled her being. After all, she had used her Anti-Army Noble Phantasm a few times already in one day, plus she had limited energy reserves. She didn't allow these worries to show however, as there were more important things on hand.

However, it may as well have been useless to try and deceive Abyss Heart in her current state, since she saw right through Lid's attempts at staying strong. Still, it wasn't like she could just send her away either, since whilst she carried this Sphere in one hand and Chaoseater (which appeared in her other hand), it wasn't like she could fight to her fullest capacity. Whilst Lid may not be at her best right now without some rest, she would likely have to help her (as much as it galled her pride to admit that, but in her Devil Trigger state she didn't worry so much about such things, honestly) get back to the Bridge, for that would be where this thing would be meant to go. The power that the Sphere provided her Devil Trigger kept it active, and as she summoned her 400,000 Head Spirit Bone, Abyss Heart used its power to try and negate the effects of the sphere's sucking on her Soul. It managed to do so, however it couldn't stop the process completely, only slow it down to a point where she could walk easier with the strain on her body being lessened.

In the end, Abyss Heart decided to go ahead and trust her on this one. It wasn't like she had much of an option, not to mention she didn't feel too confident about the notion of leaving Lid behind here when she could get ambushed at any moment. "Alright then, lets go. BUT! You MUST stay close to me, and try to minimalize your movements. Using your Noble Phantasm like that must have been really taxing on your body." she stated, getting an affirming nod from the Agent as she and Abyss Heart ran out the room as fast as their forms could carry them.


	26. Chapter 26 - Time Race!

**Chapter 26 - Time Race!**

If the journey away from the movable bridge had been a leisurely one, albeit one filled with Demons and all sorts of puzzles, then this trip BACK to it would bee as hectic as they came. The minds of the two maidens would have resembled those frantic animations that those Cartoonish characters in kids shows would make whenever the find themselves in dangerous situations, combined with an immense pressure born from the dire straits one of them had been thrown into unknowingly. That person didn't even have time to scold herself as the clock had already begun ticking, thus she had to move fast if she wanted to save her skin. With the knowledge that Abyss Heart couldn't afford to waste any time lest she lose her Soul, even with her Head Spirit Bone restraining the effects as best it can, she didn't want to take any chances. She had to get back to the bridge as soon as possible, so she could get rid of his thing before it completes its task, and with her body in its Devil Trigger state, she hoped this would be enough.

Not only this though, but what Jester had told her (apart from the useless babble it had done like that embarrassing sexual innuendo…) before finally fully dawned on Abyss Heart now that she knew more about her current situation. Whilst most of it wasn't anything new to her thanks to Siegfried and Lid herself, the thought that the Amulet she had been wearing up until her first fight with Vicious had somewhat surprised her. But then again, it didn't at the same time, since she had always suspected that it had some purpose to it. The fact that it was connected to this place somewhat intrigued her, but it also made her feel pissed at herself that she had unknowingly put everything that had followed up and beyond the Temen-Ni-Gru's ascension on her people's shoulders. As if she hadn't done ENOUGH to make her Lastation's time any worse...

These were Abyss Heart's worries, but as far as LID had been concerned, she wanted to make sure that the CPU made it through this alive so they could stop Vicious (she assumed him to be the cause of her losing out on her vengeance, so she REALLY wanted to kill him. If she had Abyss Heart with her, then it'd be a great help in taking him down) from doing whatever his end goal was. Her own vengeance would be a great plus too, since according to the information she had from Noire's re-accounting of their fight, it seemed that she wouldn't be able to take him on alone. He would prove just too strong for her otherwise. Unlike Abyss Heart, Lid had considerably… less amount of dedication to her homeland, though that would be a given considering the things the two of them had experienced.

Unfortunately, as the two girls burst out of the room, Abyss Heart glanced at the railway for a moment before she tried to fly over the massive chasm. If she could fly over it in her current Devil Trigger state, then maybe she could cut the time she would take to get back to the bridge by a fair amount. Flying over a chasm as large as the one before her looked fairly easy in her eyes, not to mention that she had so much on her mind right now that she wanted to cut corners as much as possible, if only to heighten her chances of survival. When Lid noticed what she intended though, the Agent's eyes flashed with panic as she quickly grabbed Abyss Heart's right wrist to stop her, just an inch before her form could fully go over the edge. "Lady, Noire, that is an ill-advisable idea!" she proclaimed, causing the Demonized CPU to irritably glance back at her.

"What are you saying?! We gotta get this to its place as soon as we-"

Whatever she said got cut off when Lid picked up a piece of rubble which had been lying on the ground, minding its own business. She then, with the grimmest look on her features that Abyss Heart had ever seen, tossed it over the vast chasm which the railway shot over… only for the stone to suddenly drop into it like a plummeting 1000 KG Weight under an equally powerful gravitational force. Stunned, Abyss Heart barely managed to register Lid's words, but she managed to do so. "It's like that, Lady Noire, this place has many kinds of arrays here and they are all for the purpose of altering gravity, making it impossible to fly through here. Only a small space from the kart is permittable for flight, aside from that anything drawn down there will likely be painfully pulled apart." She explained, causing Abyss Heart to growl in frustration, but reluctantly relent to her reasoning. She couldn't really die here, not when she had so much to accomplish, so with that in mind, the two girls headed towards the Kart, intending to ride it back where they had come from.

Well, that had been the plan, but…

WHREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

In one second, Abyss Heart's instincts screamed at her to turn around, and when she did the next thing, she knew a certain Demon in a black cloak with a glowing purple Scythe came out of the very door she and Lid had just exited from screeching its unholy screech all the while. 'Oh no, a Hell Vanguard!' Abyss Heart thought in alarm, knowing how these things could be the most formidable of the Demon types she had encountered so far which weren't boss monsters. Not only that, but with its current speed, there would be too little time for her to get out of the way as it LITERALLY was right before her in the next instance, so her ZANDATSU wouldn't be of much help.

As such, she could only rely on her instincts, pretty much.

The woman quickly raised Chaoseater (her defence weaker since she still held the sphere in her other hand) into a horizontal position to defend herself against the Scythe which slammed down onto her from above, however the impact it caused knocked the demonic-looking CPU flying backwards whilst taking the Hell Vanguard with her… right into the Kart ahead of them. Lid in the meantime, got knocked onto her ass from the shockwave born from the Hell Vanguard forcefully shoving past her before she could properly react, not good considering how the Kart already began to make the noises signalling the start of its prep for the journey back.

"Lady Noire!" Lid called out once she got her bearings back, which happened to be the next instance as she quickly got to her feet. A sudden wave of dizziness overcame her in her panic due to moving too fast unfortunately, so she didn't move beyond that and instead held her aching head. Not only that, but things got all the worse when several Hell Prides and Hell Lusts, followed by a bunch of Blood Gargoyles began to swarm her position too, fully cutting her off from the Kart. A frustrated howl left her throat as Lid drew her pistol and knife combo, quickly jumping towards her enemies in order to get rid of them quickly. "Aw hell, here we go again…!"

* * *

Struggling against a large Scythe held by a skeleton cloaked smoke-clad Demon whilst being pinned to the side of a Kart would NOT have come up under the list of experiences Abyss Heart wanted to have under her belt. Then again, not like Abyss Heart had a choice in pretty much everything that had happened to her in the last bunch of hours. The demonized Woman growled under her breath; her devilish eyes narrowed into a blade-like glare upwards towards the empty sockets belonging to her equally demonic assailant. All the while, their weapons trembled in their grasps as the two struggled in their battle for dominance. 'This fucker's really not giving me any ground, is it?' she remarked mentally, already beginning to sense another Kart approaching through the Demonic essences on it. 'If I don't get a move on son, I'll get overwhelmed…'

An idea soon came to her whilst she struggled to keep the purple Scythe from ripping her in half from the head down, and with a quick clutching of its Hilt, Abyss Heart sent it a mental command and had Chaoseater imbue itself with Lighting, the sparks flailing about in a wild, chaotic manner which allowed her to send shocks through the creature's body through their connected weapons. This caused the Hell Vanguard to screech out in pain, stepping backwards a few times and allowing Abyss Heart to rise to a floating position, quickly assuming her battle stance as well. She didn't want to get caught off guard from any surprise attacks that these Demons had been known to pull out of their backsides every now and then.

Her actions may have saved her life, as all of a sudden, the Hell Vanguard suddenly disappeared in a poof of black smoke, causing her to go wide-eyed for a brief second. However, she quickly regained her wits, recognising this ability as se sensed something happening behind her. As such, Abyss Heart quickly strafed to the side, just barely avoiding the Hell Vanguard when it shot out like a bullet, swinging its Scythe to try and decapitate her before she could have done anything. Unfortunately, it had underestimated Abyss Heart's speed in this form, despite the handicap (she hoped to goddess that wasn't a pun, cause Abyss Heart couldn't' focus on it much, she just got a strange feeling about it) which she held in her free hand, thus it missed.

After it's strike, the Demon twirled around, planting one foot onto the Kart main deck whilst the other planted itself onto its railing. It then charged at Abyss Heart with a mighty war cry, with the woman responding in kind. Both Chaoseater and the Scythe swung at one another from opposite diagonal angles, the two wielders stepping past one another and stopping on opposite sides of the Kart. Not stopping there, Abyss Heart twirled around with a horizontal beheading slash aimed towards the Hell Vanguard's skill, only for the Demon to do the same as her from the opposite angle. This process of their weapons colliding from opposite sides continued like this, with neither side giving any leeway.

CLANG- CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG- CLANG- CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-!

Massive clang sounds rang throughout the atmosphere whilst Abyss Heart and the Hell Vanguard exchanged blows, the young woman managing to impale the creature through its right shoulder once she had deflected a strike from its scythe upwards, exposing the opening. Not only that, but throughout the exchanges Abyss Heart had imbued Chaoseater with Lightning to increase its cutting ability, leading to the exchanges being brief and light so it didn't transfer over to the Demon through its weapon Annoying, but it just showed that in this form the power of the Lightning and other elements gave he the edge. Part of her REALLY wished she could develop these powers further, but she pushed down that urge just like she had before.

Just as Chaoseater's tip punctured the creature though, Abyss Heart's brow twitched in irritation when the Demon vanished again. 'Damnit, these things just LOVE to pull a vanishing act, don't they…?' She fully expected it to tur up a moment later, however… that didn't happen. Instead, another Kart pulled up beside her, filed with Enigmas and Hell Lusts which leapt up into the air, various screeches erupting from their mouths. 'Oh, you have GOT to be kidding me! These Demons suck at timing!'

With that thought in mind, Abyss Heart growled in frustration, before with an exertion of strength she tossed Chaoseater into the air, unknowingly cutting through several Hell Lusts who tried to strike at her from above, before she summoned into her free hand her Luce, swiftly opening fire upon the Hell Lusts in the air and reducing them to nothingness, all before she sidestepped, Chaoseater impaling the ground next to her, for the woman to dismiss the gun and grasp the sword's hilt. She then pulled it out, twirled a full 180 degrees and smacked it right dab into the path of a certain purple Scythe.

All the while, she had been dealing with the Enigmas' Energy Arrows by shooting them out of the air as they got launched, however from the moment that her Chaoseater collided with the returning Hell Vanguard's scythe, it released a shockwave which blew out in all directions. This resulted in each of the Demons, Kart included, to be practically THROWN off into the side of the underground chamber, crashing into it with full force then being buried alive beneath the Kart. If Abyss Heart had paid any more attention to them, she would have seen them disperse into Particles from their deaths.

CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-!

Instead, all her attention remained focused solely upon her opponent who traded multiple blows with her, going for her limbs predominantly like her thighs and bicep areas. 'Looks like this thing's trying to immobilize me so I can't defend against a final fatal blow…' she figured whilst analysing the creature's movements. She then saw it vanish before her very eyes once again, however Abyss Heart refused to let this get her like it had almost done previous times prior, and quickly strafed backwards so she floated at the very edge of the Kart's rear. Not a single nanosecond after she had done so, a black mass formed at the Kart's centre, which the Hell Vanguard shot out of to try and deliver a fierce upward slash only to hit air.

'Chance!' Abyss Heart thought as she had reared Chaoseater back for a throw whilst the creature had surfaced from its little sneak attack. The entire blade covered itself with purple Lightning upon her will telling it to, and for a moment, she had wondered what her human form would think of this behaviour. Even though her style had become quite… mixed, as when compared to the past when she primarily focused on fast techniques with her rapier, before she cut those thoughts off with a mental scoff before she tossed the blade upwards. Chaoseater, once it got set free from her hand like a slave being released from servitude, spun forwards like a forward spinning wheel, heading straight for the Hell Vanguard, which quickly performed a full back flip into a rapid descent, both avoiding the weapon and descending down towards her like a hawk pouncing on unsuspecting prey.

However, that was what Abyss Heart had been intending all along.

A small, barely noticeable smirk spread across her lips as her Luce appeared within her free hand, already primed for some shots. 'Gotchya!' she thought with a victorious gleam shining in her eyes as she unloaded a dozen or so rounds from her Gun in a couple seconds. She'd waited till the Demon had cleared over half the original distance between them too, so when the bullets fired it didn't have as much time to dodge them all… As a result, whilst it managed to avoid a couple of them, the rest hit it dead on through the shoulders, chest and some even blew off a portion of its head. Even so, none of these managed to slow the creature down much, as it descended downwards to finish Abyss Heart, raising its Scythe into the air…

SQUELCH!

… Only for the tip of a certain sword to impale it from the back through the chest.

Before, when Abyss Heart had thrown her Blade upwards, she had counted upon the Demon acting in the way that it had. This tactic had stemmed from one of the Theories she had developed during her resting post-Nevan, one she had formulated when she'd felt a link between herself and the Sword. She had recalled how Nico in Neptune's party had access to a sword which did the same thing, something she had learned from him via one of their phone talks, thus wondered if she could replicate that control somewhat. It had been a prediction, and it seemed to have paid off. 'So, looks like my hypothesis on Chaoseater was right. I can control it with my mind through the link I have to it, on which got formed from my Soul itself…' Abyss Heart thought as she stretched out her hand, switching out Luce for her Nevular and swiftly severing the Hell Vanguard's noggin in one movement.

The Demon let out one last dying yet haunting cry, just like the Ghost that it mostly presented itself as its form vanished into Particles. Abyss Heart grinned at this, before grimacing as the adrenaline born from battle wore off, allowing her to feel the pain her current condition presented to her. 'Shoot, I forgot…! I MUST get this thing to the bridge quickly or it's all over! Ugh, goddess Darnit, can't this bridge go any freaking faster?!' the Demonized CPU screamed within the confines of her skull. With Chaoseater still floating in the air above her, suspended by her will subconsciously, Abyss Heart quickly sought to change that. She then dismissed her Nevular and reached upwards with her right hand, seeing her Chaoseater then twist itself so its handle faced her, then it slid down the air right into her waiting grasp, not a shred of harm coming to her from it.

Right on time too, cause another Kart pulled up right next to hers whilst more Demons appeared around her, each of them unleashing their introductory howls whilst Abyss Heart groaned in annoyance, prepping herself for another battle. 'This is getting annoying…!'

* * *

By the time that Abyss Heart had finished the fighting with those 'reinforcements' as she would dub them as, the Kart finally pulled itself in at the stairway back into that massive room with the bloody sink. 'Alright!' she thought with a sense of relief from the burning urgency blazing within her chest. Though, she couldn't tell anymore whether it was her emotions stirring that flame on or the fact that the gizmo was still in her possession right now. 'I'm back, not long now!' With that thought in mind, Abyss Heart quickly flew off the Kart an, before she continued onwards, she quickly flicked Chaoseater onto the Kart's main deck. This turned out to be enough for the Kart to begin its journey back to where Lid had once been, something which had been the original intent behind the move so she could catch up with her.

With the current state of things, she did NOT forget about her companion's safety, which had been threatened thanks to that Demon ambush, making it so that Abyss Heart hadn't been able to see the result of it thanks to her situation with that Hell Vanguard. 'Lid, you BETTER not die back there, you hear me?!' Abyss Heart growled to herself, calling Chaoseater back to her hand before she floated up the Stairway towards the entrance into that room. Whilst she would have been speeding along right now, and by the Goddesses did she want to with this urgency in her chest, the gizmo sucking out her Soul kept her from moving too fast otherwise it would only increase the suction rate (something whish she had discovered the hard way through that previous fighting), even with her head Spirit Bone suppressing it somewhat.

Once she reached it, Abyss Heart cut through the door with a diagonal slash from Chaoseater, continuing on her floating way. 'Alright, not too far now, if I hurry a little more, I might make it…' the demonized woman thought as she slightly increased her rate of speed. That is, until she had exited the corridor into the main section of the room and tried to make a break for the entrance. The reason? Simple, the moment she managed to get to the entrance, a familiar Ward appeared over it, her senses telling her the room got put on lockdown. 'Oh, come the heck ON!' she screamed in her mind, twirling around to see the sight of several Hell Vanguards, a dozen or so Hell Lusts, 30 Soul Eaters and a couple Hell Wraths appearing before her, each of them staring hungrily at her like a piece of meat. However, that didn't register much in her mind right now, instead she just jumped towards them with the intent of taking them out quickly. 'I don't have the time for this, just die so I can be on my way!' she screamed mentally, already swinging Chaoseater in wide arcs, bisecting groups of 5 Demons at a time.

Demons whose Souls got fed to her Appetite Demon.

This fight, as people in the audience might have suspected at this point, took much longer than the ones on the Kart in comparison. Not only were there more Demons appearing in the room due to the larger space, but thanks to the lack of hazards like the Ward arrays that limited the kind of Demons which could appear, they could hammer down on Abyss Heart from all directions. Not only that, but the crimson-haired woman had to contend with assassin-like Soul Eaters trying to devour her wings from behind, their goal being to limit her mobility so their brethren would be able to finish her off. This, coupled with the Hell Wraths which Abyss Heart had to keep a sharp eye on, made the battle all the more stressful for her.

'These guys seriously…! I'm in a hurry, and NOW they show up in such large numbers? I know they're Demons, but this is just plain stupid!'

_…__If you're thinking this way, Abyss Heart, then they're doing what their race does best: pissing off their opponents enough to make them expose openings for them to exploit. I understand your frustration, but keeping a calm mind right now is paramount. You've done it well so far, no need to lose it now…_

'I know THAT, Siegfried! Tch, these things are just that good at bugging me…'

* * *

By the time that 30 minutes had passed, Abyss Heart finally took out all the Demons which had formed here, the Wards keeping her contained breaking to allow her to go on her merry way. Something which Abyss Heart did NOT hesitate to do one bit. She didn't want to waste a second more than necessary in this place, plus he recalled how she still had a way to go until reaching the bridge.

Following her breaking through the door, Abyss Heart floated through the follow-up corridor at a moderate speed, grimacing as the pain from the gizmo began to intensify. 'Not good, looks like the Spirit Bone won't be able to suppress it for this much, much longer…' she thought to herself, quickly recalling her mental schematics o how long she would have to travel in order to reach the bridge. When she did so, Abyss Heart glanced downwards and gnashed her teeth, a light of determination sparking within. 'Screw it, then…! If I have to suffer through these Demon attacks, I'll give it all I've got!' she thought, resolution building from the idea which formed within the depths of her mind.

With this intent, Abyss Heart finally forewent the decision to move slowly, and shot through the corridor like a bullet, increasing her speed to were she wouldn't be considered visible to the human eye. This resulted in her clearing the corridor fairly quickly, like in less than a second, whereas any Demon which tried to impede her progress like the dicks that they are they ended up getting sliced into pieces by her Wings, either that or the few shots she would let out from her Ombra gun.

On the other hand, the moment she started this Abyss Heart almost fell unconscious from the sudden upheaval of the strain put on her body. The tremendous pain she had been enduring so far SKYROCKETED within her, her very SOUL screaming in intense agony. If before could be comparable to a bonfire, right now this feeling could be compared to a damn FOREST FIRE in terms of scorching heat which threatened to incinerate Abyss Heart alive. She could feel the strain of the Spirit Bone trying to suppress the Gizmo's effects on her but considering how powerful both were… she doubted she'd be able to keep this up for long. 'Argh…! This p-p-pain…! Th-this feels so i-i-i-intense, I feel like I might kick the b-b-b-bucket any second…!' She stammered in her mind, but Abyss Heart did NOT slow down in the slightest despite the pain she felt herself under. 'Even so however… I have to go on forth!'

To that end, Abyss Heart grimaced under her breath as she hurried forth, quickly going through the corridor and ascending up the multiple layers of Gears. Knowing that she couldn't really fly as fast as she did before without fear of colliding with something she wouldn't want to otherwise, Abyss Heart had to slow down her movement, though she only did so to the point where she could have extra mobility. Blood Gargoyles appeared to try and bar her path, but with a quick few shots to their heads from hone of her Guns she managed to dispatch them pretty quickly. As a result, Abyss Heart cleared the gears of enemies easily enough, and when she entered that rectangular room, Wards locked her inside with dozens of Demons manifesting around her. Though, if they thought she would wait for them to fully form before attacking, the various Demons got another thing coming, especially when the first one got its head chopped off by a frantic Chaoseater swing. Abyss Heart quickly defeated the Demons which spawned there to block her path, not giving any of them a chance to attack her and instead went for killing blows right from the start. She wouldn't waste any more time necessary on trash like this. Once she had killed them all and the Wards vanished, Abyss Heart flew through the door, slashing it apart with Chaoseater. She didn't pause to stop and gaze at the destroyed door for a single second, quickly flying through with all due haste.

* * *

With that, Abyss Heart finally, FINALLY arrived at the Bridge. The Crimson-haired woman huffed and puffed with a purple aura flaring around her, drawn out of the Gizmo thanks to its power being used to sustain her Devil Trigger. Abyss Heart gasped and grunted, slowly sapping away her motion to a stop as she felt her strength rapidly fading from her reach, causing her to float slightly closer to the ground with her body bent downwards.

The Demonized CPU gasped and panted, sweat dropping from her brow like a mini shower of rain as she struggled to get a grasp of herself, almost falling to the ground completely with how little strength she had left, her Wings dropping into a slouching position due to the lack of effort keeping them straight. 'Guh… ugh… gah… hguh… gah…' her thoughts, no longer eligible to form words, rung through her mind whilst her eyes trembled violently, feeling her Soul nearing its limits with this strain on it. Abyss Heart could feel herself losing consciousness fast, black spots beginning to spread over her vision like a great plague attempting to consume her very being.

_…__RE…IRE…OIRE…NOIRE! NOIRE! LISTEN TO ME! PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER! YOU HAVE TO LET GO OF THE GIZMO; IT'S GOING TOC ONSUME YOUR SOUL OTHERWISE! LOOK UP, SEE THE LION-HEAD STATUE ABOVE THE ENTRANCE OVER THERE! THROW IT QUICKLY, BEFORE ITS TOO LATE…!..._

Yet, even as her consciousness tattered on the edge of oblivion, Abyss Heart gradually heard the voice of Siegfried break through their weakening link. The Fact that he had even resorted to calling her by her human name whilst she remained Devil Triggered had not been lost on her, if anything it actually helped her regain somewhat of a coherent mental state. Enough to at least comprehend what he had just told her, as Abyss Heart weakly raised her had in a trembling, shaky manner that resulted in her spotting a large lion head-shaped statue up above the entrance that led to that Opera House.

Upon seeing it, Abyss Heart struggled to her feet, actually standing on the ground instead of floating due to how weak she had become. Her form constantly trembled, and it felt like she would collapse at any moment, almost did a number of times too, until she eventually managed to balance herself. At that moment, Abyss Heart weakly raised her head again, barely managing to look at the statue's open mouth, her target for what she had to do next… and so, with a loud war cry, Abyss Heart thrusted the arm holding the gizmo forwards whilst sending what energy she had left into the limb, launching the Gizmo out of her grasp…

And into the statue.

The moment that the device left her hand, all of a sudden Abyss Heart gasped loudly as a thunderous shock passed through her system, as well as a feeling of being doused by a large blast of water. Her vision cleared up instantly, a similar level of speed being present in the other changes which took place. Changes such as her strength returning, her body reverting to its human form thanks to the Gizmo powering the Devil Trigger no longer being on her person, as well as all manner of faculties now being suddenly restored to their top condition. Abyss Heart, now Noire thanks to being in her human form, fell onto one knee whilst reflexively summoning her Nevular to use as a walking stick, stabbing it into the stone in front of her.

'Th… That was…'

Barely, Noire managed to get some kind of coherent thought together, though she didn't think much could come from that when she used it to describe that dilemma she had just endured. Zero comparisons could be made inside her head to link up to any kind of experience which matched what Noire had just gone through. The feeling of having her soul being sucked dry like the time Nevan almost did with her blood had been one of the most unique, not to mention torturous, experiences she had gone through so far. Nothing she had felt before could compare to it, and for now it felt like she could barely even move. One thing which didn't recover would be her stamina however, THAT had been drained quite severely thanks to her efforts in getting to this place. Not to mention she could feel that she had to wait a while before her Devil Trigger could be used again. That, or consume some Demon Souls to speed things along.

Still, none of this compared to what she felt Siegfried and, as reluctant as she felt about it, Rik must have gone through. Therefore, she quickly established contact with them whilst switching to a Japanese sitting position. 'S-Siegfried… you doing… okay…?' she thought, worriedly. Not like she was scared for him or anything, but you know, it didn't exactly hurt to check.

_… __Noire, I should be furious with you after that moment of recklessness you just pulled. That stunt alone has done tremendous damage to your Soul, damage which Ashbringer is currently healing. Not only that but it could almost have destroyed both me and your Appetite Demon, making it so all the powers you have gained would be WASTED. Furthermore, it would have made wielding your more… Demonic weapons pretty much worthless, as well as disabled your Dragonblood Form in addition to your ability to use Dragon Fault by extension. However, we have more important matters to take care of such as taking care of Vicious before he accomplishes his goal of opening Temen-Ni-Gru's gateway to that Demon World…_

Whilst Noire shuddered, wincing at the gesture all the while, at the possible consequences that nearly happened alongside the ACTUAL consequences like the damage to her Soul, Noire also nearly exhaled in relief at how Siegfried wasn't as mad as she thought he'd be. Not to mention that he indeed did have a point, the blackette realized as she slowly got to her feet. Fortunately, it hadn't taken her long to recover her stamina, she had been resting throughout the mental conversation with her Heroic Spirit… though that didn't mean she had become 100% again. Her soul ached right now, and she could indeed feel it through every cell of her body which moved in that moment, but with Ashbringer healing her Soul right now she didn't feel as much need to rest as she would have otherwise.

'Yeah, your right. Vicious likely is closer than ever to achieving his Goals… By the way, speaking of that guy there's something which has been bugging me… He's a DPU, right? But, something about him felt off to me. I mean I didn't pay it much attention when we first fought, but I had noticed this… emptiness inside of him, more so when he used larger scale attacks on me…' Noire responded whilst she stumbled abut, grasping onto Nevular which still remained impaled into the stone of the bridge… a bridge which had shifted itself o the right to connect with another metallic entrance. Now that she had some time to calm down without getting her neck chopped into by a Demon or a trap, she began to think on some issues which had been bugging her. Of course, she got the impression that Vicious hadn't even used a SHRED of his full power back then, just like Mundus had when she first fought with him alongside her fellow CPUs, but still…

_…__Indeed, Vicious IS a DPU, and whilst his powers do indeed have mystery surrounding them, the important thing for you right now is not to underestimate him regardless. Tread carefully into that minefield Noire, otherwise you may step on a landmine which could potentially lead you to an early grave. Though I do share those suspicions, it is also strange as to why he would work with that mortal. DPUs generally tend to look down on other beings even sometimes their own kind, seeing them as weaker than them at an inherit level, which makes them usually unwilling to work with others. Whoever that man, Arkham, had once been he must have had something this DPU wanted badly enough for him to form an alliance as shaky as it had been…_

So, Siegfried's thoughts mirrored her own, huh? Noire hummed in response to that as she started making her way to the newest entrance, her eyes shining with the intent to get this task done already so she could perform damage control for when the Citizens eventually woke up once the spell wore off. Geronimo had said that it would be a while before the spell wore off, but she couldn't rely on just his word that it would be like that, no matter how he might have been he'd still been an enemy Heroic Spirit, and as such completely trusting his word would pretty much be the absolute WORST thing she could have accomplished.

More than that though, she worried about the implications this had for her people. She herself had assumed that, from the moment she had first heard about Arkham's deeds, that he had not been any normal person. He had access to knowledge and resources that next to nobody else had in Gamindustri, something which worried the blackette CPU. If someone like HIM could gain access to such information, then what of others? Avenir? Ganache? Any political parties wanting to dethrone her for her decisions or their own gain? For a long time Noire had thought she had gotten used to her rather shaky situation on the political battlefield, but this among other things made her feel like the complete opposite.

'Well, not like thinking on it will do me any good right now, not when the guy in question should be up ahead.' Noire thought as she picked Nevular up and strapped it to her back, doing the same with Balmung as well. The Noble Phantasm and demonic Seven-pronged sword each radiated an aura of their own respective energies, as if they shared their mistress's apprehension as she reached for the entrance, pulled it open and then strode inside with a strong step in her wake. 'Just you wait, jerk… I'm not gonna let you harm a HAIR on any of my peoples' heads!'

After going through the entrance, Noire found herself in a room similar to the one where she had found Arkham's Corpse along with Lid, only this one looked more square-shaped whilst sporting a spiralling downward staircase. It became obvious to her where she would be required to go for advancement purposes, the blackette mused to herself with a small chuckle. 'I can't sense any Demonic Energy signatures down there, so that must mean I'm relatively in the clear so far…' She thought to herself in a pondering fashion, slowly making her way forwards whilst drawing Nevular. She held it in her right hand, letting an aura of violet Lightning spark dangerously around its form.

Glancing down at the blade and noticing the lightning, Noire also noted that the jewel containing its Lightning essence had begun to shine, likely a sign that the Lightning traits within this sword had become active. She saw various sparks dancing along the blade's surface, the six extra protrusions acting like lightning rods to draw in the larger ones. Seeing them sparked a train of thought within the blackette, causing her to slow her stride as she lost herself in thought. 'Now that I think about it… I haven't actually tested this blade's true potential as of yet…' she realized, eyes widening in surprise when she recalled her previous battles with the Sword she currently held. Back in those battles, it was either mildly drawing on the Lightning to enhance the blade's swinging and cutting abilities, something which its inborn Desecrated HF technology helped along with also, or she wouldn't use its abilities at all. In her defence, she had been focusing more on her objectives than understanding this sword more, especially since back then her greatest priority in terms of understanding had been to understand her Devil Trigger. 'Now I feel kind of stupid…'

_…__Rik says that perhaps it is time for you to change that. Perhaps when the next Guardian Demon comes around, he senses one nearby by the way, you could use this sword on it even if you change to another form…_

The words of Siegfried filled her mind, causing Noire to pause her stride in momentary shock before she quickly expanded her senses again. The FIRST thing she thought about would be an annoyed one: 'Oh great, yet ANOTHER obstacle getting in my way… how annoying!' But then, she pushed that aside for the moment in favour of seeing where this Demon might be and if there would be any possibilities for any ambushes along the way, since Demons in this damned Tower just LOVED to launch those at her. It wasn't like she had filly recovered her stamina either, so that was something to think about in her calculations, too.

Closing her eyes, Noire tilted her head downwards as she tried to feel out the presence of the so-called 'Guardian' Demon which Rik had reportedly mentioned he'd sensed; however, she didn't pick up anything. Not a single thing, so she opened her eyes and pursed her lips, her mood souring thanks to this failed attempt. 'Are you sure he's not lying? Cause I can't feel anything within our vicinity.'

_… I see. Rik just told me why, it appears that his senses are much more attuned to the feeling of Demonic Power than yours currently, mostly due to him being around for a lot longer thus being stronger than your human forms' senses. Therefore, whilst you may not be able to sense this Guardian Demon's presence, something which you may want to prepare for in case your abilities become outmatched by its own, it doesn't mean that it could hide from an Appetite Demon like Rik who had a fair amount of experience and development under his belt..._

Upon hearing his words, Noire nodded mentally in understanding. A lot of the time recently, she felt glad that she had someone like Siegfried by her side, and this time had been just one of them. Good help is hard to find, an expression she found most fitting for this situation as a whole, not just with her Heroic Spirit. Still, the previous point Rik mentioned still stood, a powerful foe would be nearby, and that would make it an ideal opportunity for her to test out what powers she could draw from the sword in her current state. Noire didn't fool herself into thinking she could draw it out fully though, not right now, thinking that she could would result in being seen as an arrogant idiot by her peers. She could only draw out half its full power at the moment, mere Continent Class, but still that wasn't exactly weak. At least it was more than a quarter, though she did wonder how such a tiering system got erected in DPU Society in the first place, since the levels seemed to be so… vague, hard to decipher. If anything, there should have been more divisions like first level, level one or something along those lines. At least then, the system would make a bit more sense and seem a bit more understandable.

Still, as she started walking down the stairs again with one hand sliding along the wall to her left, Noire honestly found herself growing more and more excited, likely from the demon and dragon sides of her which thirsted for battle, at the possibility of another fight. These emotions caused a small smirk to form on her lips, her eyes starting to gain a draconian and demonic tint to them whilst the clanking of her armoured greeves filled her ears. "Hmmm… if there's a Demon whose going to be challenging ME to a direct fight, I'll have to prepare myself. Perhaps I'll go Dragonblood Form the beginning, then switch to my Devil Trigger if I regain enough of my Demonic Power to do so…" she mumbled under her breath, plans forming within her mind on how to deal with her opponent. She wouldn't be making the mistakes she had made with the last two Guardians, Nevan taught her to use everything she had against her opponent, and Beowulf had taught her the advantage of having allies fight alongside her against these Devilish combatants… if her fights alongside her fellow CPUs against them weren't enough to hammer that lesson home.

By the time she reached the bottom, Noire had half expected to see some kind of Demonic ambush set up for her, it wouldn't be something which would have caught her off guard as gaming experience told her it was something which happened often. Gaming as well as her previous experiences travelling through this Goddess damn maze-like Tower, which had been why she got a bit of a surprise when, the moment she arrived down there, she didn't meet any kind of devilish opponents. Not one, which caused Noire to arch a brow in confusion, lowering her right hand slightly which gripped onto Nevular's hilt.

'Now that is weird… would have figured they'd attack by this point…' Noire mused inside her head, slowly walking forth towards the metal door on the other side. She may not sense anything behind it, but her gut instinct told her that she would likely be encountering the Guardian on the other side. The fact that, now that she thought about it, she had seen a golden statue back in the room upstairs, which had been there just before she had encountered those 'Guardian' type of Demons in one way or another, wasn't lost on her one bit. 'Maybe THAT is the reason, those Statues could serve as a warning that I'll be encountering a powerful Demon later…' Noire thought, pushing those thought aside as she passed through the entrance. Unaware of what kind of Demon she would be facing.

* * *

**Chapter end**

**Now, I'm gonna be honest here, this one turned out to be a lot more difficult to write than I had initially thought it would. One reason for this is that, due to the nature of the chapter being mostly a race against the clock for Noire/Abyss Heart before her Soul got sucked up by that soul leech-like device, I didn't have many opportunities for anything else for the majority of the chapter. It didn't help that some of it may seem a bit repetitive, but let me ask you this: how often do the same things circulate through our heads over and over? I know being repetitive isn't really a good thing, depends on the subject and how its utilized really, but sometimes I have to wonder if people write things in repetition for a purpose, not just so they could fill up the chapter with crap already seen. **

**Aside from that, it took me a while to complete that section of the chapter, with that section with the Karts being one of the more original ideas I had which could have fit the scene as well as display the tension in the chapter. Noire and Lid rushing to the Kart in urgency after being told by that psycho Clown (seriously that tower innuendo would make ANY of the girls roll their eyes in disgust lol) but then being forcefully separated by a Demon Ambush from outta nowhere like John Cena Memes felt like a nice twist on things... plus it gave me the chance I needed to get back into some primary Noire action.**

**Don't think that Lid's out of this just yet though, she's still got some stuff left to handle. **

**As for the whole Vicious scenario, its pretty much confirmed on Noire's end, her having been suspicious about his identity this whole time is in character for her to me since she's not as dumb as Neptune (for someone who rules a Nation as well as her, yet has very bad acting skills, creates a bit of a paradox in her character, huh?). Not to mention I'm implying some things by highlighting possible backstory for Vicious as a character, hopefully I'm doing that right since, if you all haven't realized this, this is my first time writing a semi DMC fic. ****As such, I may get thins wrong with both the plot and Noire's character since she's not like Dante, her Demonic side lessening her inhibitions being a bit of a compromise which helps me out in writing her dialogue. **

**I can just imagine her in Devil Trigger mode pretty much blurting out what she truly feels, then when she returns to her human form she's all tsun-tsun with trying to deny what she had said before. **

**Now, hopefully you all have enjoyed the chapter, and whilst I would say to review, it just seems that this story isn't as popular as the main fic which is understandable due to its requirements. Anywho, hope you like the chapter, and i'll see you all on the next one.**

**Peace Out!**


	27. Chapter 27 - The Time Horse

**Chapter 27 - The Time Horse**

Upon reaching the entrance and passing through it, Noire found herself standing before what could only be described as a LONG as heck bridge. It looked to be made of stone, so Noire began to attribute it to those large stone bridge structures she had seen a few times during art exhibits she sometimes attended out of boredom, without much work to do and there being little to nothing in the Anime and Manga industries which piqued her interest at the time. Learning more about her Nation would ALWAYS be a plus in her book after all, something which Noire did every day of her being in her current position. The Bridge itself though, it appeared to have these large caskets filled with ash, kind of resembling unlit torches in a way, something which Noire wondered about. 'This place… something feels off about it…' she thought to herself, gripping Nevular tightly. 'More than the norm in this whole darned maze of a Tower.'

_…__I can feel it as well. Now that you are here, I can feel a large Demonic Energy signature in the atmosphere, which likely means that we will be expecting some company momentarily. However, I am unable to ascertain its correct position, and Rik is not helping matters for us…_

'…#SIGH# I guess I shouldn't be surprised by that anymore…' Noire reluctantly thought, rolling her eyes mentally with a mental sigh of exasperation. She figured that it would be best for her to get used to Rik not helping her out as much as Siegfried did, and even then, it was only to help her out. He had made his stance pretty clear at this point, so she should get used to it already, but she still had some level of surprise in her system from Siegfried's words about him. Shaking her head, Noire pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind and focused on the task at hand. Namely, trying to locate this new Guardian Demon which had been detected.

Though that… would be a task easier said than done.

Inside, she felt Siegfried's own indignation about the way the Appetite Demon did things, but it wasn't like they could help things. Instead, Noire simply closed her eyes, tilted her head downwards and begun expanding her senses to track it down. About 5 or so minutes later however, she opened them again whilst lifting her head to face the opposite direction. 'I had hoped things would turn out different once I got here, but it looks like the opposite is true…'

Just like Rik had hypothesized last chapter, she couldn't sense a single spec of the Guardian Demon's energy, and upon realizing the validity of his words Noire clenched her free hand in nervousness. She couldn't Devil Trigger quite yet, her energy hadn't fully recovered since it had only been about 5 minutes since she managed to stop her soul from being devoured (she could still feel the effects of Ashbringer healing her Soul from within, a testament to how damaged it had been and how close to death's door she had stepped to, not a nice thought to be frank), so she couldn't rely on it for the time being. It wasn't even worth mentioning her Goddess Form, being as locked away as it was. Luckily, she still had her Dragonblood Form on hand as well as Dragon Fault, but unless she would be outmatched without it, she would stick to her human form for now. Nevular and Balmung needed some training after all, the former more than the latter.

With this plan in mind, Noire took a few steps forwards, closing in on the bridge itself. However, just as she did so the blackette noticed several Hell Prides, at least 10 or so, appear before her before they began shambling towards her. 'Ugh, these guys...' Noire thought, shaking her head whilst placing her free hand over her eyes, a hissing sound escaping her closed mouth. 'Well, guess I can just use their Souls to replenish my Devil Trigger then…' With that in mind, Noire readied her sword, Nevular pulsing with violet energy. She would settle this in one fell swoop, then she'd advance towards the Guardian Demon's location. Who knows, maybe it was just testing her right now, though she wondered if that would have been true. If it had, then she had several questions on her mind about that approach.

However, in that moment…

Instantly, something changed within the atmosphere, and if her senses hadn't informed her of this, then it got sown to her when suddenly, the caskets lined up on both sides of the bridge instantly lit up in bursts of azure flames. Flames which formed a two-sided line to the other side. On that side, an eruption of flames, shaped similar to a circular portal, exploded into existence like a volcano erupting, and from that place something leapt out onto the scene.

That something, took the shape of a giant, dark blue horse. Its size, if Noire had to guess, rivalled that of a truck or a van, with a Maine and tail consisting entirely of not hair, but of swaying light blue fire. The hooves of the beast were also covered in these flames, both the front and back ones whilst it had a tail consisting of those flames too. Its eyes and mouth glowed in a hollow, light blue colour as if the flames which made up several of its bodyparts also existed within it, like a dragon's. Behind it, Noire noticed that it pulled a black carriage that had spiked wheels, a carriage connected to it by these twisted looking harnesses which only someone who was REALLY into SxM would find pleasurable. The last thing she could see, was how a blue glow emanated from the carriage windows like the internals of a jack-o-lantern.

Upon noticing the aura, the beast generated, Noire's brow arched in realization whilst a soothing sensation passed over her, annihilating any of her previous doubts. 'So, THIS must be the Guardian Demon…' she thought to herself, holding Nevular at the ready. There wasn't a single doubt in her mind that she had the right target, especially since she had fought several other tough Demons before, so she knew how to differentiate them from their weaker brethren. 'Whatever this Demon's powers are, I'll have to keep a wary eye out in case it tries-'

**(Play OST - Devil May Cry 3 Soundtrack - Geryon Battle 1)**

Before Noire could think of anything else, the horse pulling the carriage neighed loudly, blowing out fumes from its nostrils as it stood on its hind legs and jumped into a charge, blowing flames out behind it to give the impression of them consuming everything in their path. The flames though, definitely left their mark if the distinct sounds of sizzling in the air were any indication, plus Noire noticed the approaching Hell Prides got swatted aside like yesterday's trash, being sent flying up and over the bridge down into the abyss below. Upon seeing it approach, Noire's eyes promptly enlarged themselves as, in a couple seconds, it cleared the distance between them and forced her to jump into the air. Just barely did she make it, as in she had only touched a slight INCH of the creature's maine, as she flipped about in the air before she landed on the ground kneeling on one leg, facing the carriage behind the creature as it vanished into more erupting blue flames.

'That was… ugh, anyways, looks like this thing attacks by running along this bridge in a mad gallop, then vanishes into fiery portals making a counterattack impossible once the attack has been launched.' Noire analysed in her mind, replaying the experience over and over in just a short moment. It was something she had to do quite a lot when encountering new enemies in general, something which happened way too often for her liking. 'In that case, there aren't a lot of options for me… I'd rather not fly about over that abyss since I'm not sure if there aren't any arrays down there, but past experiences tell me that there may be. Its enough for me to not consider flying…'

Whelp now would be the time for her to see what Nevular can do with its other powers aside from her swordplay.

Her mind made up, Noire got into her battle stance again, mentally focusing on bringing out Nevular's power, power which soon responded with animalistic eagerness. Guess even the more intelligent Demons had some animalistic traits in them, so Noire didn't have any surprises in her. From the Sword's smaller Jewel, streams of black dots shot out to cover the space around her, dots which came out by a couple dozen each second until their numbers reached 100. These dots then enlarged and reshaped themselves, becoming large bats which could EASILY sit on top of her entire head and overshadow it. Their forms, whilst black, radiated a thick miasma to give them the appearance of being covered in darkness itself, whilst two glowing pairs of circular hollow purple irises took the form of eyes. These bats, as they floated around her, squeaked and squawked about whilst their Wings constantly moved to keep them afloat.

'I've successfully drawn out 100 Bats so far… but it still feels like there's more in here…'

Noire thought this as she made to draw out more Bats, though she did notice something as she had drawn out the first hundred. The more she drew out, the more she times she felt this tingly feeling inside her mind, like some sort of dialling phone had connected to another line. This made her realize that the bats had something like herself and Siegfried, a mental link but unlike herself and her Heroic Spirit, these links felt like one big web way, each connected both to her and to each other. It made her think of this connection as something more akin to a Hivemind or something along those lines.

However, she couldn't really continue to ponder the new discoveries of her 7 pronged blade much longer, if at all, for she suddenly sensed the emerging presence from the Guardian Demon as it appeared behind her, galloping forth from its portal to try and ram into her with a maddening Neigh released from its snout. Upon sensing it and feeling it approach, Noire snorted as she turned around, instinctively pointing Nevular at her opponent with a loud war cry leaving her lips. "Hope this works! GO!"

She honestly had no clue what she had been doing, yelling out like that, nor did she expect anything since she didn't know what the heck this weapon's true power was. However, this allowed what followed to surprise her all the more, as when the Sword pointed towards the rapidly approaching enemy, the many Bats which came forth all got whipped into a mad, shrieking frenzy. Screeches of fury erupted forth from them like a mob of angry, rioting citizens as they descended upon the horse, to be more specific its face, before they began attacking it with a flurry of different attack methods. Screeches into its ears, wings being used as blades to carve wounds into its snout, fangs biting into the creature in multiple painful places, even a few launching Lightning Bolts from close range would be some of the things Noire saw them do.

'Whoa!'

Her sole thought had been that…. Before the horse howled in both pain as well as anger as it burst forth into a mad gallop, bulldozing by the Bats which luckily managed to avoid it on their own accord, and Noire managed to jump over it again at the last minute, forward flipping and slashing it across the back of its mane. A loud, pained neigh erupted from its damaged snout which rapidly began to heal at the expense of its Demonic Power, all the while the beast vanished into one of its portals once it reached the other side of the bridge again, causing the Bats (which had tried to follow it) to return to her side.

'I see…' Noire mused in her mind as she glanced around at the Bats, eyeing each of them individually whilst they formed a protective barrier around her, some of them looking at her with almost fanatical levels of loyalty whilst the rest kept a steady alert, wary of any incoming attacks. 'So, these guys are like AI-controlled programs, I can command them myself, or they can act autonomously if the need arises. I can control them through this Hivemind thing, though that implies the more I summon, the more strain it'll put on me…' Noire thought, analysing this ability like a supercomputer with dozens of possibilities running through her head. She even tested a few of them out such as testing the extent of her control over the Bats by having them form objects in front of her similar to Nevan's making them her Dress. She formed anything she could think of, be it utensils she used in daily life, to extra weapons, even managed to shrink and enlarge the bats and their creations according to her will. Not one ounce of discontent showed from them either, all of them resembled complete and utter loyalty to her. Kind of like Bees in a Hive being loyal to their Queen. 'And given that they can launch Lightning attacks…'

Just then, a surge of azure flames engulfed the ceiling above them, causing Noire and the 100 Bats she summoned to her side to look up. Upon seeing them, Noire's eyes quickly widened as she realized the situation at hand. 'Shit, looks like this thing's playing dirty, hiding behind these flames to launch pot shots at us!' she thought whilst gripping Nevular's hilt tightly. Whilst she stared up at the flames, she quickly became aware of a shower of azure Fireballs raining down upon her from within them, all of them aimed straight for her position.

In response to this, Noire instinctively reacted by having her Bats form a sheet-shape above her head. Violet Lightning crackled across each of the floating Bats, their eyes dancing with power as the bolts formed into long streaks, streaks which they launched constantly like a bunch of Miniguns at the Fireballs. They launched them with such high quantity and quality, that they practically filled up her entire vision, as well as reminded her of the time that she along with the others gunned down those Zombies with Miniguns, painting her surroundings in their colours. At long last, they managed to easily able to stop the Fireballs from raining down upon the bridge, not letting even ONE damage it lest their mistress suffer any kind of injury.

The shower continued on for what felt like a couple minutes, before the flames practically extinguished themselves like they got doused by a constant stream of water. Upon seeing that their task had been complete, Noire quickly recalled her Bats to her side again, her gut instinct telling her that another attack wasn't that far behind. If anything, it would likely be an immediate follow-up, something which got proven correct when a loud Neigh erupted into the atmosphere from afar when the Horse, furious and spewing flamed from both it's mouth as well as its nostrils, jumped through another flame portal to gallop towards her. The Massive Carriage behind it created massive sparks when the spikes on its wheels collided with the railing beside them, threatening to chop through any who dared get in their way.

Shame Noire wasn't so normal, huh?

'Gotta get up in the air again!' The blackette thought as she jumped up into the air, all the while commanding her Bats to follow her lead. As she managed to barely get over the Demon in time again, almost cringing when a single strand of its fiery mane managed to nick her knee but little else, Noire instinctively tried to command her Bats once again. She did it by reflex, so she had no idea what she just tried to do, but in a moment the hundred bats converged around her lower back, just at the base of her spine. They began to pile onto each other there, perfectly flattening themselves as of to make many layers of flesh come out of that bodypart, thus belong, Noire had four long, arm-thick Tentacles protruding from the base of her spine. 'Eh?!'

What the heck?! That would be the best way to sum up Noire's facial expressions in that moment as she righted herself. Why the heck did her bats do THIS?! Despite the panic popping in her stomach like a bubble, Noire pushed it aside for now since she could still feel the Hivemind these Bats had, so she simply commanded them to strike at her opponent's back. Her newfound Tentacles, upon receiving the orders from their master, did exactly that, they reared back like serpents making to leap towards their prey in an ambush tactic, before each Tentacle shot forth through the air, resembling pistons as they slammed into the back of the horse's Neck.

Cue another loud Neigh from the Demon, pain shooting through its system as it howled, flames erratically erupting from its being to force the Tentacles to return to their mistress's side and deform back into her 100 Bats. Quickly before it could receive any additional damage, having bitten through the pain to do so, the horse pulled itself along with the carriage into one of its portals once again, leaving Noire alone on top of the Bridge with her thoughts… thoughts which gathered around the topic that was her Nevular's apparent Bat manipulation.

'Interesting… looks like this Bat Manipulation ability shows a lot of promise…' she thought, a smug, pride-filled smirk tugging at her lips as she gazed down at the blade and viewing her reflection staring back at her. Whilst doing so, Noire SWORE the blade looked REAL friendly in her eyes, but she didn't put too much stock into it. 'I approve…' The thing was, after everything she had seen and gone through since her return from Celestia, Noire had a newfound respect for weapons and abilities with versatility in their uses. Having overwhelming power suddenly didn't seem all that great, not like it ever had for her since she had once been a technique fighter. As a result, she had become a bit of a mixed bag with all kinds of abilities under her belt, but with destructive power taking a larger role in her power set.

Nevular just seemed to complement a few more areas she had been lacking in her arsenal.

That said though, she found herself beginning to grow weary of this hit-and-run fight she had been engaged in, and It showed during how her lips curved into a frown a second later, having already predicted where the Demon would next come out. As a result, she faced that direction and calmly waited, having been paying attention to the Demon's attack patterns to learn when to exploit its relatively simple attack style. This fight though, whilst it had been quite exhilarating at the beginning, the tediousness it also possessed wore down her patience quickly, enough to make her want to end the fight as soon as possible. 'The next time I see this thing… I'll see about finishing it off with a concentrated lighting barrage from all sides, giving it nowhere to hide… if it tries to flee, I'll switch to my Dragonblood Form then use Dragon Fault to deal the final blow…' she thought, planning it out in her head whilst also forming multiple different plans, just in case the first one happened to fail.

As such, the moment she began to sense a portal opening, Noire knew for a fact that the Demon would come rushing out to charge at her again, kind of like a mad bull now that she thought about it. To that end, she twisted herself around on her Armoured heel, her hair whipping around as she gripped Nevular's hilt in two hands. When she did so, Noire also lifted the blade so each of its tips pointed in the same direction, the one where the Demon horse inevitably began to emerge from, its nostrils snorting constantly with unbridled anger towards her. She stood in the stance of her original mentor, Raiden, a stance she hadn't taken for a VERY long time. If someone asked her, she would deny anything they insinuated, but in her mind, she'd wonder herself why she chose to adopt this fighting stance… before settling for it honouring her first mentor.

Her eyes quickly took note of it trotting towards her slowly, something which did give her temporary pause. 'Why did it not just charge out at me like before? Is it wary of me? Well, no matter…' she thought, rolling her eyes before gripping Nevular's hilt tighter and d beginning to exert her will over the Satanic Treasure. 'I've got this!'. Her will implanted itself deep into the weapon, which soon began to respond to it, a purple aura starting to form around the blade with small sparks dancing across from it. Her legs slowly bent themselves further, as Noire prepared herself to launch her next attack, this time using the power of Lightning which lay within the sword she wielded… and unlike Chaoseater which had MULTIPLE elemental affinities, this one primarily focused on Lightning itself. There would be a world of difference between them.

Just before she could do anything though, something in front of her caught Noire's eye, her attention thus becoming focused on the approaching Demon. '… Huh…? Is it just me, or… is there something weird going on with his picture…?' She began to wonder, caution filling her being as she took a defensive stance for precautionary purposes. It didn't take long for her eyes, which remained stuck to the Demon's form like glue, to pick up on something else she found weird, and that something soon became registered in the depths of her mind. 'not only is it trotting towards me slowly… but there's more to it the more I examine it.. is it just me, or is its energy starting to rise…?!'

**"****NEEEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"**

Noire never got any chance for a response to be given to her thanks to what happened just after she thought that thought process. Out of nowhere, the Demon horse began to neigh loudly, standing up on its hind legs (after stomping on the bridge stone so hard cracks spread forth from the indents to the bridge's edges) and flailing its arms about whilst swaying its head from side to side. Flames roared to life from various parts of its body, causing its carriage to rattle and sway slightly thanks to the motions passing through the harnesses connecting it to the Horse Demon. Streaks of the stuff even flew off the being's body, heating up their surroundings and causing Noire to start breathing irregularly as sweat began to drip down her forehead. 'Th-This heat…!' she thought as she pulled one arm away from her sword to cover her face in an attempt to shield it from the scorching hot atmosphere. Despite this though, it didn't stop her hair from flailing behind her thanks to the generated winds, almost like a certain Greek monster's serpentine hairs in a way. She would not admit to being forced to step back a couple times from the initial shockwave the energy brought about, nope not at all. 'This feels… so much like Nico's Hellfire, its actually insane…!'

Just as the thought that this couldn't get any worse began to enter her mind, Noire's ears twitched when she faintly heard the sounds of crackling earth beneath her feet. The moment she did, an ominous sensation befell her as her blood felt like it suddenly became colder than Lowee's climate. 'Oh no…' she thought, doing her best to remain level as a disturbing thought process entered her mind. 'I get the distinct, sinking suspicion I'm about to take a dip…' Glancing downwards whilst keeping her arms up, the blackette soon saw the cause of such sounds, the cause being cracks which had spread across the entirety of the bridge from the Demon's hooves. Cracks which could be seen due to the hues of dust layered around them, until seconds later when the entire Bridge itself shattered into a bunch of large chunks which began falling down into the Abyss below, dragging both the Demon and Noire herself along with them. 'A very BIG dip…!'

**(OST end)**

* * *

**(Play OST - Devil May Cry 3 Soundtrack - Bridge Lowered ~ Geryon Battle 2)**

A startled yelp escaped her lips whilst Noire flipped backwards, having lost her centre of gravity and balance the moment the bridge collapsed. Whilst she didn't sense any kind of killing Arrays or any Wards for that matter, that didn't register to her completely since she had to regain her bearings first, quickly too lest she fell flat like a pancake thanks to the powers of gravity. She bit back the urge to scream right now, considering her preference to quickly switching her position so she fell with har form facing the space below her, her arms and legs spread wide as to slow her descent. As for the Horse Demon, Noire glanced towards where it had once been, and saw that it had begun descending almost gracefully, giving her a smug, condescending look, one which caused a tick mark to form on her forehead. 'That bitch, it clearly knew this would happen… it intentionally brought the bridge down on me!' She screamed in her mind. Part of her wondered if Demons liked to troll her or if the world was full of assholes… wait, she took that back, she already knew the answer to THAT question. 'This is something either Neptune or Vert would do to mess with me!'

Whilst Noire fell downwards, her hair flapping about wildly behind her whilst she made to shift into her Dragonblood Form, the blackette noticed a rapidly approaching gladiator-like Stadium below upon the transformation's completion. 'Huh, first a chicken race, and now a gladiator fight…' she thought to herself, swiftly flapping her wings a single time. This resulted in a gust of wind erupting from them, one which propelled her into a diagonal freefall towards the edge of the stadium. This allowed Noire to flip herself forwards and plant her feet onto the wall, the blackette mentally sighing in relief when she saw it not caving in from the impact. 'Must be made from some strong stuff…' she thought, flipping off the wall and landing in a crouch afterwards, her wings unfurled. A second later, Nevular fell down to the ground too, stabbing into the space in front of her for Noire to stand up and grasp onto its hilt, yanking it out with a mild exertion of force.

**(OST end)**

**(Play OST – One Woman Army – Either Male or Female Version)**

Once this had all been done, Noire looked back up with her draconian slitted eyes narrowing at her opponent. 'Alright bitch, round 2…' she thought, idly glancing around the stadium. Like she had seen from above, it had been completely deserted… though she didn't know why she did that. 'I get the feeling something was meant to be said about that, but I don't know what… whatever.' She thought, before flipping Nevular into the air reaching behind her back, Noire pulling out her Luce and Ombra Pistols, swiftly pulling out her arms before twirling said pistols around her fingers by their triggers and then pointing them at the Horse Demon. The said Demon Noire focused fire on its face as it began to charge towards her, the carriage it pulled behind it seemingly beginning to rattle… before the roof seemed to open up and spew out a barrage of 40 missiles made from azure flames her way.

Quickly whilst cursing under her breath, Noire raised her twin pistols and shot down the missiles, before she twisted into a sausage flip to dodge the following charge. Whilst in mid flip, Noire noticed the spinning Nevular starting to descend, already nearing her feet so she thrusted her right leg forth as if it were a spear. This, combined with the Sword's handle bottom facing her foot, resulted in her kicking the blade forth into the Demon's side, causing it to howl as Lightning erupted around it, sending electric currents throughout its entire body.

Landing on the ground and flipping back several times (shooting down more missile barrages between each flip), Noire landed in a crouch again before she spread her wings and took off in a straight flight path. Her goal: the Demon's side where her sword lay, as Noire promptly dismissed her Pistols whilst the Demon glared in her direction, already responding to her offensive by charging at her again, this time enveloping its entire body within a cloak of azure flames whilst radiating a matching aura of Demonic Power. Just before the two could collide however, Noire did a barrel roll to the right, tucking her Wings inwards which resulted in her barely missing the Demon by a hair… though she did mentally cringe when she felt some flickering flames lightly graze the back of her Wings. She still pushed on though, managing to reach out and grasp onto the Sword's hilt before pulling it out as the Demon charged passed.

Her objective achieved, Noire thrusted her opposite arm out towards the ground and performed a hand stand, linking this into a flip which she used to twist herself in mid-air and them charge right back at the Demon, releasing a couple dozen Bats from within the blade to deflect a missile barrage of 60. Just as she neared the Demon however, Noire noticed the ground in front of her starting to turn into an azure colour. Warning bells got triggered in her mind, and as such Noire quickly halted her movements and flapped her wings to propel herself backwards. Good thing too, since…

The space in front of her erupted into a pillar of Azure flames which reached up to the destroyed bridge remains above.

'Huh, so this thing has the ability to control flames like this, then…' Noire thought as she flipped backwards and spread her wings, halting her movement as she got into Raiden's sword stance. Lightning crackled along the blade's form as she eyed her opponent, said opponent already starting to make its move when it began to circle around her from the edges of the Stadium.

Whilst it did so, she heard the tell-tale signs of Missiles being prepped inside the Carriage, pretty much confirming for her what it intended for the following attacks. 'Alright, Noire. Since you know the basics about Nevular's abilities, its time for you to put them to use…' She thought to herself, clutching Nevular's hilt. Since she had MOSTLY discovered the abilities and potential of the Bats she could command, it was now time for her to do the same but for her sword's Lighting powers as well. Then, as if by her thoughts themselves Noire saw how her blade began to spark with dangerous lightning. Upon seeing this, an idea sparked inside her mind as she remembered an anime she had once watched in her limited free time, one which had WAY too many filler episodes for her liking especially the second series.

"Lightning Release: LIGHTNING FANG!"

Upon calling out the name of her attack, Noire thrusted her blade forwards towards the direction where the horse Demon (now that she had Lightning illuminating the place better than the torchlight, she noticed that the carriage had the name 'Geryon' on it so she figured that would be the Guardian Demon's name from now on) would be heading towards. As she did so, her blade's Lightning grew ever the more dangerous in both power levels and violent nature, eventually becoming too strong to be contained any longer and thus being launched forth from the 7-pronged sword as a barrage of Lighting Bolts. Each bolt slammed into the moving Geryon without mercy, Noire's early predictions having come true and thus she managed to score a couple hits on the damn thing. The result, Geryon howled in pain as Lightning coursed over its frame, yet it didn't slow down in the least, and instead it just launched a volley of Missiles at her…

A volley of 80 Missiles by the way.

'oh, you have GOT to be KIDDING me!' Noire shrieked inside her mind as she quickly hightailed it from her previous position, already starting regret her decisions when the barrage of Missiles began hammering away at the ground around her, forcing her to trust her instincts with her life lest she get blasted out of the airspace. She even tried to get some increase air distance between them by ascending upwards, but the moment she did the blackette noticed lines of demonic Wards suddenly spread all the way across the Stadium, which got followed by the feeling of a sudden weight falling onto her shoulders and halting her attempts to get higher. As if THAT could have helped her any… 'Is that thing able to launch Missile at me all the damn time?!'

Since she couldn't gain much height with these Wards restricting her, Noire opted for a landing, sliding along the ground till she halted after doing so. This didn't stop the Missiles from coming however, something she had figured to be the case since before she even conceived the idea of landing. Instead, as the Missiles exploded around her whilst following her movements, Noire began swinging her sword all over the place in practiced, controlled arcs. This also had the added result of releasing dozens of Lightning Bolts, the continuous use of her LIGHTNING FANG whilst she kept an eye on Geryon. The said Horse Demon kept up it barrages whilst circling the outer edges of the little stadium… kind of like a little bitch, but hey, Demons were usually described as sons of bitches anyways. In the end, Noire constantly fired Lightning Bolts from Nevular which caused the Missiles to explode whilst still in the air. Of course, no smokescreen remained thanks to the composition of the Missiles, but still weird things can happen sometimes.

… Moving on…

After she had deflected enough of the missile barrages, Noire noticed the Geryon suddenly vanish into one of those fiery portals, causing her to purse her lips in annoyance. 'Great, so its able to teleport even here… no, that's not quite right. It may be more accurate to say that its even MORE effective here than back on the bridge…' she realized, quickly getting into her defensive stance in case it would try to pull something sneaky. One could never completely tell with Demons after all-

WHAM!

…Huh?

What the…?

How did-What?

All of a sudden, Noire found herself gasping in pain when she suddenly felt something ram into her from her side. As a result, she got sent flying across the Stadium, though if it hadn't been for her stabbing Nevular into the ground by reflex then she would have been sent way further. Her brain reeled from this experience, struggling to comprehend what she had just gone through whilst dozens of questions ran through her mind, resulting in one big chaotic mess… and not the kind she had been used to when dealing with Demons. She got so frazzled, that her following actions resembled a cranky machine struggling with its daily functions. She glanced down idly and barely caught sight of an impending fiery pillar, causing her to roll sideways to avoid it. The pillar, however, became much larger than the one she had avoided before, perhaps big enough to consume an entire vehicle in diameter, so its shockwave managed to push her back even further. 'Huh…? What the heck? What was that…?' Noire wondered, stunned as she tried to piece together what had happened.

Unfortunately for her, this momentary lapse of guard would prove costly, for the Geryon simply neighed as it stomped on the ground with its foot, causing the ground below her to erupt into Azure flames again. This time though, she hadn't been able to react in time and as such got engulfed by them, screaming as the flames licked away at the dark grey flesh of her Dragonblood Form like hundreds of tiny, ravenous bugs. She barely managed to get out of there in time to dodge the mad rush which Geryon had launched whilst she had been distracted, as she furiously began to fly to the opposite side of the stadium to get some distance. Whatever had happened just now, she hadn't been able to perceive it due to being so caught up in her thoughts, Noire realized. As such, she would have to keep an eye out for whatever it did so the Geryon wouldn't-

WHAM X2

'It was only one time, Author!' Noire cursed inside her mind in a moment of breaking the fourth wall similar to a certain Goddess, as she suddenly got rammed into AGAIN by the Geryon without any kind of warning. The blackette this time, got sent much further than before and finally managed to impact the walls of the Stadium, a loud BBOOM sound echoing throughout the atmosphere whilst causing the pieces of it, like dominos being shoved by foreign weights, to fall on top of her. If she could have heard it, she would have sworn she'd heard the Demon snort in amusement, its eyes leering at her like a predator playing with its future food. However, the Geryon didn't let up on its offensive, as it prepared an especially large Missile Volley within its carriage, as evident by how the structure kept shuddering like something was being held in. Now then, let's take a look over to the other side, at what our resident tsundere Goddess (albeit she hasn't been too tsundere recently due to all the crap going on) was up to, shall we?

Inside Noire's mind, said Goddess kept an utterly baffled, disbelieving mindset as she struggled to comprehend the recent experience befalling her. She didn't even see it coming this time either and whilst she had been monologuing, she had also been keeping an eye out too! What the hell just happened to her right now?! The sense of incoming danger quickly exploded inside her mind causing her previously closed tight shut eyes to shoot open in alarm. The moment afterwards, a Missile Barrage slammed into the section which buried her, causing a massive explosion which Noire promptly flew out of… with the Geryon hot on her Tail shooting Missiles her way.

Whilst her Tail swished about, thwacking Missiles away every second which passed, Noire tried to come up with a solution as to what this could be. She constantly ran simulations in her mind whilst making mad, unpredictable aerial manoeuvres to keep the Missiles from hitting her body, much to the Demon's building frustration. According to those few experiences, she instantly got hit by the Geryon's charge either from the side or behind, it could also potentially be able to hit her from the front, but if it did that the it likely would have revealed its ability to her. 'tch, this just makes things awkward…' the blackette thought whilst she swung Nevular in a reverse arc upwards, launching Lightning Bolts upwards which slammed into the other Missiles, making them detonate prematurely before pulling a sharp left turn lest she slam into another part of the stadium.

'Alright Noire, don't et your mind wander! Think! Just what can you glean from this…?' after admonishing herself and launching a furious Volley of Lightning Bolts vis LIGHTNING FANG, Noire narrowed her eyes as she proceeded to calculate the two experiences, comparing them within her mind at high speeds. 'Before each experience, I felt something which felt both odd, and familiar at the same time… Now that I think about it, it felt awfully similar to everything around me slowing down, including the feeling of gravity itself. My stomach felt like it had dropped to the bottom of my body, and everything became sluggish… hold on a minute, isn't that the same feeling as my ZANDATSU?!'

A possible revelation occurred within her mind, making her eyes widen in surprise as she turned towards the Geryon. The Demon's eyes flashed with azure flames, as it raised its right hoof then stomped it into the ground, the ground below her turning azure prompting Noire to leap sideways to avoid it. Upon landing, she suddenly felt the same symptoms she'd mentally identified earlier, causing her to reflexively react by activating her ZANDATSU. This caused her to quickly regain her mobility and dispersed the feeling of being sluggish from her body, just like she had theorized (once she managed to comprehend this fact).

Turning towards the direction of the Charging Demon, Noire quickly swung Nevular upwards whilst engulfing it in Lightning, the blade slashing through the Demon's front area before it could strike her down. As such the Geryon howled and neighed in intense Agony, Lightning arcs dancing throughout its form as it got blown back across the stadium. By the time that it landed, the feeling of something losing its grip over her spread through Noire's body, as she stumbled forwards upon her ZANDATSU's deactivation. 'I see… so THAT's what it is! Its just like my ZANDATSU: this Demon has Time-related abilities!' she thought in revelation, clutching Nevular's hilt tightly in her hand.

Theist revelation sparked all kinds of thoughts inside her mind, thoughts revolving around the nature of this ability. From what she had seen, it appeared that the control had a rather limited influence over time itself, as it had happened in small, short bursts otherwise it would have just pounded her into the ground with that ability. It also seemed to be a bit stronger than her ZANDATSU, as even whilst it activated Noire had felt it only just manage to fight its effects off. Instead of just slowing down time like her ZANDATSU did, it appeared this ability instead completely STOPPED it from moving at all, except for the user who moved normally. Now that she had this figured out… what should be her next move?

Well, for starters she doubted she needed to learn more about Nevular at this point. Well, it felt more like she had reached the limits of what powers she could draw out from the Sword itself currently, making it so that any attempts to draw out further abilities and power from the blade would be a fruitless endeavour. Up till now, she realised that she had a dimensional storage filled with an unknown amount of Bats, with Lightning abilities. Unfortunately she couldn't raw out many of the Bats, and what Lightning attacks she could generate were quite limited. Plus, she got the feeling this blade was best used in wide, out door and open spaces as several techniques she wanted to try for the 'Lightning Release' as she would call its attack moveset. If she wanted to draw out the ABSOLUTE maximum amount of power she could for it, she would need such an environment to do so, but for now Noire found herself satisfied by her current experiments.

As such, she decided to end this in one final blow.

Something which she had the PERFECT weapon accomplish this feat with.

Throwing her arm to the side whilst regaining her balance, Noire felt the weight of Nevular vanish upon its disappearance, replaced by the larger, heavier grip of a certain Dragon Fault Heavy Sword. She stabbed the blade into the ground beside her as she observed the Geryon, said Horse preparing to unload into another multi-circular sprint around the Stadium again. 'Not on my watch...' Noire thought to herself, already springing into action. With Dragon Fault's weight, the sword would express greater strength than speed even if she could swing it normally like an ordinary sword in Dragonblood Form. The reason why she didn't go with her Noble Phantasm was simple, she didn't want to outright blow up everything around her.

Upon seeing her charging at it with her new sword in hand, Geryon quickly realized the impending threat from the blade alone. Not only did it have a different shape to it, but it also had a different 'presence' to it, one which prompted it to immediately react to it lest it becomes its end. A loud neigh escaped the Demon's maw as its nostrils snorted out azure flames, whilst the Demon wreathed itself in a fiery barrier mixed with its own Demonic Power, heating up the surroundings by a couple thousand degrees. It then bounced forwards into a ferocious gallop, speeding towards the rapidly approaching Noire like a bullet with it's carriage almost falling over from the speed. It had reacted hastily, mostly due to not wanting to die but it still had enough sense to unleash its Time-stopping ability. Geryon's eyes flashed dangerously, as Noire soon found herself starting to slow under the ability's effects...

Until she neutralized it with her ZANDATSU.

'Yes, it worked!' she thought victoriously, smirking darkly which, in her current draconian form, looked absolutely monstrous. It had been one of the ideas which she had thought up of on the fly, something which Noire had found herself doing quite a lot during intense battles, if her ZANDATSU managed to limit the effects of this ability, then it stood to reason that it would be her best defence against it and other similar attacks. Looked like her idea had paid off, as she may have felt a small margin of sluggishness from the ability, but it was NOTHING compared to what the full power of this ability would be like.

With that in min, Noire no longer paid the time-stopping ability any mind, as whilst she may not be able to use ZANDATSU for too long, it would be more than enough to finish this damn Horse off for good. Her draconian slitted eyes bore into the approaching Demon's own as she sped up her charge by flapping her massive wings a few times. The two sped towards one another, both eager to anticipate the final attack which would end their opponents. Both of them felt it clear in their minds, hearts and souls, that one of them would die whilst the other would live... that would be fine by them, since all they had to do would be to win.

In one moment they neared one another...

SLASH

FWOOSH!

…The next, the two stood on opposite sides.

For a moment, a long, intense silence dominated the area. The only sound which could be heard would have been the crackling of the burning torches outlined around the Stadium, whilst the two competitors remained immobile. Neither of them moved an inch, remaining steadfast and frozen within their own respective positions;. On one hand, Noire stood with her right leg forwards and her left behind her, as if she had stopped whilst in mid-run. She held herself in a crouch with her Wings curving around her slightly, whilst her arms both held Dragon Fault sideways like she had just finished swinging in a diagonal arc. Her tail had frozen itself in a wavy position, yet still kept its tip trained in case her opponent tried anything extra. She kept her head lowered as well, resulting in her expression becoming enshrouded by shadows with some of her bangs falling downwards to further hide her features.

Meanwhile, the Geryon stood opposite her, trotting on that same space without moving forth. The Horse's body remained engulfed in those flames of its whilst its eyes shone brightly in a dangerous light. The light of something which felt itself invincible, confident and proud. Not only that, but its carriage kept its top open as if it were going to launch more missiles at any time. It seemed almost as If the Demon would just continue on with its rampage against Noire like before... until that is, its eyes suddenly lost all signs of life as t gave one last dying neigh... almost resembling a weak croak from a toad, before It fell onto its side, the flames extinguished. Upon its crashing onto the ground, the Carriage shattered like glass, as if it had solely been there via using the Demon as an anchor to the physical plane... but what it left behind would prove even more significant...

Its soul...

Which flew right towards Noire and entered her back, all the while she stood up tall.

Raising her sword arm up in front of her chest, Noire swung it in a circular arc before stopping when it pointed diagonally towards the ground beside her, flicking away any leftover waste from when she had struck the beast for a fatal blow. Now that she had finished this fight, a relieved sigh escaped her lips as she returned to her human form, dismissing her Dragon Fault sword into her Inventory. That had been an intense life or death moment there, she had to forgo all forms of defence for one last strike to the creature's weak point, which had been the base of its neck where its throat was based. Noire had relied on the intense physical boost from her Dragonblood Form to get the task done, but if she had failed and had changed into either her Devil Trigger or remained in Human form, she likely would have suffered a fatal injury instead.

'Phew, that's done, now I can focus on getting to the bottom of this damn Tower again...' the blackette thought to herself as she began to stride forth towards the sole exit from this Stadium. However, as she neared it...

CRUMBLE!

The sound of something beginning to give way reached her ears, causing Noire to pause mid stride, put her raised foot back down then look up. She did this just in time to see a bunch of rubble, seemingly barely nagging on to what remained of the bridge despite the Geryon's previous attack... before they lost the fight and began falling down towards her. Noire would have shrieked and tried to jump away when she saw this... but instead, for some reason, she decided not to. Or rather, her body seemingly acted on its own and remained rooted in place. Externally she looked like the picturesque form of calm and composed as the rubble fell towards her, seemingly about to crush her under their combined weight...

Then they stopped in mid air.

'... Huh?'

Blinking owlishly, Noire gaped when she saw the pieces stop in mid air, like they were suspended by something. What that was, she didn't understand as she hadn't activated her ZANDATSU yet, so she tried to experiment. Raising a hand, Noire poked one of the pieces, watching as it rose upwards but didn't come back down. 'What the... heck...?' she wondered, before an idea struck her. 'Wait, could it be...?' she thought, glancing towards the torches outlining the Stadium in a bid to confirm her suspicions. Upon looking at them, Noire saw how the flames looked like they had been frozen in motion, like thy had suddenly turned to ice or something. Not only that, but she felt like the air itself had stopped, like all forms of motion has slowed to a standstill at this one specific moment. 'Siegfried, please tell me this is what I think this is...'

_…It does indeed to be a time-stopping ability. Moreover, it seems to be the Geryon's Time-stopping ability, you must have gained it from defeating that Demon and letting your own absorb its soul. It appears that, unlike your ZANDATSU which alters your very perceptions of time, this ability manifests a space-time rift which erupts from you and covers a large distance, anything caught within it moving at only fractions of their original speeds. As for you yourself, you will look like your moving at lightning speeds to them. In essence, whilst they are essentially the same ability, one is targeted towards you alone whilst the other targets everything in your surroundings. On the downside, both still take up a lot of energy to maintain, this ability even more so than ZANDATSU. I'd say you would do well to use it sparingly as I feel it takes up your Demonic Power to maintain itself..._

'I see, got it...' Noire thought, cutting the link as she stepped aside. Afterwards, the ability cancelled itself upon her will, and due to that the rubble fell to the ground beside her. Upon her mental check, Noire winced when she discovered a large portion of her Demonic Power reserves had been drained by that ability, much more than what her Devil Trigger would. If she were to make a comparison, then the DT would be like a slow, ravenous beast whilst this ability (she got the feeling 'Quicksilver' would be an apt name for it) devoured much more and at much greater speeds. She would likely need to use this one sparingly until she found a way to lessen the energy consumption, but aside from that Noire really liked how this ability would work. She could only IMAGINE the uses she could get out of it, especially if she used it when in the middle of an enemy army.

With thoughts like that, plus the strange image of a very... flamboyant yellow haired masculine vampire going 'ZA WARUDO!' in her mind, Noire huffed as she put a hand on her hip, letting the other dangle at her side whilst she continued on her way.


	28. Chapter 28 - Rematch Imminent

**Chapter 28 - Rematch imminent**

At long last, the time for everything to come up to its head finally, FINALLY drew near.

Vicious' lips curved upwards into a sick, sadistic smirk with his eyes shining in excitement. He gripped the scabbard of his Katana tightly, eager anticipation filling his being as he finally entered through a all doorway, ending up in a huge circular room. The room in question had a dome-like interior, but with these drainage-like pathways flowing through it, all connected to the centre where one big indentation could be seen. The indent could be described as bowl-shaped, with ever drainage crevice connected to it. Not only that, but if one expanded their senses, they would find no small number of complex Wards all over this place, way more complex than even a thousand different Arrays combined together. For those wishing to understand more about Wardcraft, deciphering the Wards here would prove COLLOSSAL in terms of benefits.

Though, for someone like him they would be a trivial issue.

Instead, he focused on the GLORIOUS sight currently laid out before him. Vicious, upon seeing the bowl-shaped indentation, knew for a FACT that he had come to the right place, mostly due to the countless years of research and planning he had put into regarding the Temen-Ni-Gru. He had done so much, that if he were to compare his knowledge then there wouldn't be any other DPU ALIVE who could contest him within this field. Expanding his senses told him that there was a sufficient level of Demonic Energy still running through this Tower-sized Satanic Treasure, Demonic Power which had been preserved here as a backup power supply since it's former master… well, he wasn't in the land of the living anymore, he knew this for a FACT now. However, Vicious refused to let those anger-inducing memories influence him now, not when he had come this far. There simply had been no need, he was so close now. There would only be a few more steps to take now that he had reached this point, steps which he could easily take care of. Once he did do that... ufufufu…

After the doorway closed behind him, Vicious glanced at it for a moment, a debate starting to form within his mind. He wondered if he should place any kind of sealing arrays on it, just in case any trespassers dared make it this far and interrupt him before the final stages could be achieved. When he thought of such annoyances, the image of Noire appeared in his mind (he knew her name due to having researched the current state of affairs in this world, as bullshit garbage as they had been to the point where he would have coughed up vomit mixed with blood). That whore Goddess would pose little threat to him, he felt sure about that, especially with how WEAK she had been when they first fought. It almost revolted him how weak she had been, this world had truly fallen far from grace since its rightful rulership under his kind.

Still, despite the weakness she had, there had been ONE thing which had stood out to him from their first encounter, something which she must have kept tightly under wraps until then as he hadn't found out any information about it. That had been how she wielded a Sword, one which he had found VERY familiar, especially with that big attack which had cancelled out his own at the end there. Not only did he have suspicions about it, but the way she handled herself in that battle, the movements of her body, the style of her swordplay, it all reminded him of something which happened long ago… or rather, he should say SOMEONE whom he had fought in the distant past. Thinking about things he hadn't in so long made Vicious' eyes narrow into a dangerous, beady eyed glare, his teeth gnashing together in a mix of anger and humiliation. If that sword truly was the one which he recalled from memories of a far distant past, then she could very well become a major annoyance to deal with later on.

Still, he shook his head and decided to play it safe. Since he'd made it this far Vicious wouldn't take any chances right now. The time would soon be upon him to finally achieve the thing he had sought after for so many millennia, anyways. He felt so damn close to his goal that, if he were a dog, then he likely would have been salivating at the prospect. He had come WAY too far to be denied at this point, and as such he would not tolerate ANY kind of abnormalities, such as the so called 'conflict' Arkham had apparently started having since that silver haired whore returned to the scene.

With those thoughts in mind, Vicious held his hand out towards the doorway, and began muttering under his breath, muttering in the ancient language of the DPUs so fast that any normal person would have just called it mindless babble. Though, they would then start freaking out as, from his shoulder, dozens of complex looking Symbols stared spiralling down the appendage, heading straight towards his hand before leaping off in the form of long streams, latching onto the doorway by the intent of their creator. Upon latching onto it, they quickly spread over it, interweaving with each other as they began to set themselves up in a multi-layered, complicated sealing array.

'There, now that I've done that, its time for the final stages…' Vicious thought, turning back to the centre and beginning to make his way towards it. He didn't get too far however, as something registered within his senses, causing him to pause mid stride. '… Something else is here. Something Demonic in origin… I'm not alone here…' he thought, narrowing his eyes whilst gripping his Katana's scabbard tighter. Judging by the killing intent he had sensed just now, it looked like some lowly Demon had managed to crawl its way in here before he had arrived, hence how his Sealing Array hadn't denied it entry. That was his hypothesis, anyways, as he soon twirled around to face the source of an incoming THUMP sound.

**"****I found YOOOUUUU… Demonic GODDESS…!"**

In one sorry state, Vicious summarized, stumbled in the Demon known as Beowulf, which Noire had failed to finish off in time. It crawled across the ground on all fours, reminding him eerily of a dirty cockroach much to his inner disgust. However, Vicious didn't attack him just yet, mostly due to having sensed some foreign Demonic Power still residing within this creature's body, that as well as remnants of energy which could only have come from a Noble Phantasm. 'Doesn't feel like that Sword's, so its likely another Noble Phantasm of a similar nature… another Anti-Army Noble Phantasm… by process of elimination, it must have been that silver haired whore's doing. So, she's got a Noble Phantasm, huh…? Interesting… that must mean she's bonded with a Heroic Spirit then. Hah, truly, the only way for these pitiful mortals to gain such strength would be to borrow the power of others. Mortals truly are an abominable lot…' he thought mockingly, looking down at the Demon with disdain.

If Beowulf saw his features right now, it would have been insulted as it would have assumed it had been directed at the Demon itself. However, due to the lack of said reaction, Vicious looked at its eyes and confirmed within his mind that the creature had been blinded during major battles, likely only recognizing him through his Demonic Power. This revelation made the silver haired man roll his eyes in haughty derision, especially since it appeared this Demon's other senses had been damaged as well by that unknown Noble Phantasm. A fact which he confirmed mentally when he heard the Demon's following words:

**"****I told YOU that I would REMEMBER your RANCID scent! No MATTER where YOU run, YOU will NEVER escape From me!"**

Slowly, Beowulf stumbled closer to the centre where Vicious stood, silent yet preparing to draw his Katana. He had no care to speak with this lesser creature, especially when it proved that it didn't even recognize him for the mighty existence he truly was. Such a creature didn't deserve one BIT of his vocals, so with that in mind Vicious' intentions for the Demon became evident inside.

Apparently, the Demon had the audacity of a fool too, especially when it raised its right claw then lunged at him, intending to cut off his head. Vicious coldly scowled, hopping into the air, dodging the claw at speeds which took the Demon by surprise. Before it could react, he drew his Katana from its scabbard and slashed sideways whilst flipping about, landing atop the back of the Demon's nape. There, he remained motionless, his Scabbard in one hand and his Katana in the other. All the while Beowulf, having only felt a brief brush of wind against it's form, remained frozen in place, shock and disbelief coursing through its system like two extra sets of blood… ironic, considering what would be happening next.

**"****Y-YOU… you're NOT… What I… F-F-FOUGHT before…!"**

Those were the confused Demon's last words it would ever speak in this world, especially as it was currently, as it's head slowly slid downwards, a bloody slash having formed between its neck and shoulders. A second later, its head fell to the ground, rolling across it whilst the body followed suit, the dead Demon's killer back flipping off it and landing on the ground in front of his recent kill. He then made a show of sheathing his Katana, scoffing mockingly at the dead corpse. "Foolishness at its finest… now that I think about it, you were one of the first Demons to be imprisoned in this damned Tower. One of many of your kind, your strength being weak in comparison. If your strength had been allowed to grow as intended, you could have reached World Class Demon level… but instead, you are a mere shadow of your former self… Beowulf." He spat in disgust, as the said Demon's Soul flew out of its body.

As he was the victor, Vicious held his hand out to grasp onto his prize. As disgusting as this Demon was, he wouldn't say no to a new weapon to master, plus he would probably be able to use its full power much better than Beowulf ever could, this being his thought process as Vicious saw the Soul latch onto his hand, soon engulfing his entire being. When it died down, the man looked down at his arms and legs, finding them to be clad in a set of wolf-like, black gauntlets and feet-like greaves with glowing white lines running through them. Experimentally flexing his hands beneath the gauntlets, Vicious looked towards Beowulf's corpse, an idea springing to life in his mind. 'Let's try this out…' he thought.

His desire clear, Vicious slid on across the ground towards his target, performing an uppercut which knocked the corpse into the air. He then bent his legs, seeing the light from the Greaves glowing brightly for a moment before he shot upwards into the air, his jump enhanced by his new Devil Arm. He then flipped forwards once he got close enough to the corpse, performing a front flip downwards kick which vertically split the Demon's corpse in half, Vicious landing first and turning away from the two halves as they crashed to the ground, dissipating into nothingness soon after.

'A decent warmup… now let's get things on track again, shall we?'

After taking the sole exit from the Stadium, Noire found herself standing at the beginning of a long Corridor, one eerily reminiscent to the one where she had encountered Lid for the second time, before their Talk anyways. The corridor didn't look to have anything which could count as complicated or anything like that, it didn't wind about, it didn't have any signs of Demonic ambushes, nothing. Instead, it just formed as one long Corridor to another door on the other side, blocked only by a set of statues. Those Statues were aligned in a way that they lined up on each side of the corridor, like the knight suits of Armour decorating Leanbox's Basilicom. Whilst they looked like any ordinary statues, if one looked at them for a prolonged timeframe, then they'd start to get this eerie presence from them, like there were more to these Statues than meets the eye.

However, upon seeing those statues, Noire rolled her eyes in annoyance, already knowing what would begin the moment she stepped forwards into their range. If her past experiences weren't enough alongside the memories of Agni and Rudra, then the fact she could sense Demonic Power in them would be a clear indicator. The memories of this Tower gained from those sentient Satanic Treasures told her much about the Tower itself. But unfortunately for her they weren't exactly forthcoming with EVERY function. Case in point, that sphere which almost drained her Soul completely. Not to mention those things focused mostly on getting stronger and fighting like brainless brutes, so whilst they had SOME knowledge about the Tower's functions it wasn't nearly as useful as it could have been.

To be frank, it sort of reminded her of the brutish fighting style of a certain CPU back on Celestia…

'Say, did YOU ever have to deal with unsavoury brutes in your original life, Siegfried?'

_…__More than you would know, Noire. If there's anything that I have learned, it is that there are always going to be some type of blockhead wherever you go, it is almost universally guaranteed. Back when I was alive, I had to deal with bandits, Nobles vying for control, Soldiers thinking they could defeat me with brute force despite knowing of my reputation, the list goes on and on. I loved my people, but I will admit t there being times when I felt…. Vexed, by their antics. Some of them had been much easier to deal with than others, and ironically THOSE types usually came at me the most…_

Geez, she could relate to that almost on a spiritual level, Noire realized after hearing his response. Thinking back, Neptune and that brat may as well have been some of the EASIER people who had that type of personality to deal with, since at least THEY weren't inheritably malicious in nature. She had to keep an eye out on all fronts as the CPU of Lastation, and whilst she didn't mind her role in this world, she DID admit it to be rather suffocating at times… which usually rounded up to about 90% of the time. Still, hearing his response got her curious to know more. Thus, she questioned him again with the following. 'And how did you deal with them without getting a migraine…?'

_…__I simply repeated mantras inside my head, keeping my cool that way…_

'… That doesn't sound heathy…'

_…__Says the one who has multiple beings in her head?..._

…No response left her mind at that one, and not simply because she would be ignoring him either. Noire honestly had nothing to refute that statement, so she opted to remain silent. Though, she felt like her Heroic Spirit KNEW he had won their little verbal argument.

Then again, he had WAY more experience with this than her, so it would be a given.

Aside from her annoyance on this matter, Noire also wondered which weapon she ought to use for the time being. It wasn't like she had only one, which was a problem she felt a lot of people who went down the versatility path possessed. Unlike Nico who had WAY more options in combat than she did, Noire had a couple different swords with their own unique abilities and techniques associated with them. She decided to go with Balmung for this one, mostly due to her not having the ability to raw out more power from Nevula at the moment, and she didn't feel like swinging Dragon Fault right now. Summoning the blade into her hand (its sheath appearing on her back when she did so) Noire held the blade by pointing it forwards whilst angling it downwards. Those statues wouldn't be too much of a bother, way less than any kind of Demon.

'Now that I'm here… I can feel it…' Noire thought as she slowly stepped forwards, which prompted the Statues to activate. Each of them sharply twisted themselves around to face her, the ones in front taking point by jumping across the ground in small bursts as their way of movement. However, Noire didn't focus too much on that even as her body shifted into her Sword Mistress Stance, her eyes hardening into a steely glare as her body prepared itself for the inevitable fight. 'Up ahead, it's a fair distance away from me, but I can feel a powerful surge of Demonic Power… but, its nothing like the Demons I've fought so far. No, it feels more like… yeah, its HIM, it has to be…' she thought, a surge of irritation erupting within her chest as memories of the fight atop the Temen-Ni-Gru Tower sparked within her mind. 'It's Vicious…'

Thinking about that name and the ugly mug associated with it infuriated the blackette to no end, however she refused to think about that for the moment. Right now, since she was so close to the end goal, she decided to do the uncharacteristic thing of going for broke and aim straight for it, nothing else would matter to her right now. She had too much riding on her shoulders to think about that stuff anyways, and so with that in mind, Noire unleashed a battle cry as she dashed forth into battle, intending on making quick work of her new opponents.

Just as her little 'thunder run' started though…

"…You have GOT to be kidding me!"

It got stopped before she could even complete her goal by the following blockade.

The thing was, after having defeated those Statues in record time, Noire had wasted not even a second in advancing through the door to the other side. She didn't stop, even when she emerged from the doorway into a crossroad-type Corridor Noire just randomly chose the direction in which she would travel. Well, that was half a lie, as whilst she did choose a direction, she chose one which would have taken closer to where she could sense Vicious' Demonic Power, if she got closer to him then she could eventually meet up with the asshole and put an end to this nonsense before any of her people could get hurt.

Of course, like everything in this damned Tower there were complications set up to get in her way, for example she had to go through an entrance which lead her into one of those Puzzles this place liked to throw her way. This one actually resembled the light directing puzzle she had solved a while back, so she found it relatively easy to figure out once she took a step back and looked at the situation at every angle possible. Her reward back then had been a set of Orichalcum, shaped like a pure crimson jewel which she figured would be an important piece of her journey to Vicious later on, so she'd stored it in her Inventory and then had continued on.

Eventually, this had led her to another room, one which looked like a corridor at first until she reached the end, where the corridor split into three with one of them sporting a massive, steel-like door with dozens of locks on it. The rest of the pathways weren't too important to her, as behind that steel door she had sensed the Demonic Energy radiating from her target, so whatever lay before them would no longer be of any importance to her. Upon examining it, she had noticed a slot which would have easily let her Orichalcum fit inside it, which had told her that her previous decision based off past experiences had been right on the money.

However, just as when she had been about to insert the large lump of ore into the slot which would have unlocked it… Noire almost got blown back across the room when a spark of Lightning erupted from the door itself. Instead, she slid across the ground for a full 8 meters, before coming to a halt a second or two later. By the time she had stopped, two large skid marks had been left on the floor, but she didn't care about that, for when she had looked back up… a complex Sealing Array made from Demonic Wards had covered the door, blocking her path forwards.

Hence her current predicament… and the reason why she shouted like she had.

Really, was it REALLY so hard to grasp that she wanted this to be done already?! Why the heck did fate have to get in her way so damn much?!

Growling like a beast for a moment, Noire looked like she was about to lose it, what with the veins popping over her temple and the clenched fists he shook at her chest level. However, at the very last second before she could practically implode, Noire took a deep breath, closed her eyes and then tilted her head downwards, repeating the mantra which Siegfried had taught her to help control her temper. As she performed these actions, Noire placed her formerly clenched hand over her temple, rubbing circles into it with her index finger and thumb all the while. The actions helped sooth the approaching migraine she felt coming due to all the annoyances piling up in her day, but it would take a moment to completely calm herself down. Whilst she wasn't NEARLY as bad as a certain someone, Noire did find that she had little tolerance for setbacks, failures and the like. It was why she demanded so much out of her staff members and subordinates, why Lastation's society functioned like it did.

After a quick 10 minutes passed, Noire finally felt calm enough to think rationally, as she approached the sealed door. As she did so, the Door became covered with all kinds of weird Symbols, each of them glowing a sinister crimson colour that gave her chills. However, she didn't step back and instead stopped right before the sealed door, eyeing each symbol warily. 'This Sealing Array… sure doesn't feel like the one which me and Lid dealt with before…' she thought to herself, suppressing her urge to reach out and touch the Symbols. What had happened previously just now resurfaced in her mind which had been the basis for this action. But aside from that, this Array DID have many different similarities, with these crimson Wards being arranged differently and behaving unlike the ones from back then. Odds were that this thing had several distinct differences to it.

But, none of that allowed her to figure out the more important task at hand: how to freaking BREAK it.

Noire would NOT stand for this, she was just so CLOSE to her goal at this point. She would not be denied what she had worked so hard to achieve after coming this far, nope, not going to happen! In a bid to see if she could gather any information, she tried to search through the foreign memories belonging to Agni and Rudra, see if those blockheads knew what this was and how to counter it. It had been a long shot but considering her lack of knowledge about Wardcraft, she didn't exactly have much of a choice in the matter. Unfortunately for her, it seemed that lady luck wasn't on her side today, as she found practically NOTHING of any practical use in this situation. Obviously, this didn't sit well with her, and as such Noire felt herself about to explode in anger once she exhausted any other option her mind could come up with.

'Siegfried, please tell me that you have something right now. I'd HATE to ask this of you, but I'm drawing a blank here.' She thought to her Heroic Spirit, gnashing her teeth. In the past, whenever Noire had asked him for help she hadn't felt much of it. It wasn't like the stakes back then were anywhere NEAR as intense as they were right now, but now that they HAD reached that kind of level currently, she didn't have any other choice but to rely on her fellow Leader for advice. It humiliated her inside, but she forced that indignation down to the depths of her being. There would always be situations where she would have to discard her personal pride for the sake of her people, that had been something Siegfried had taught her, this situation just happened to be one of them. Some situations would warrant her to not feel any kind of shame in asking her fellow leader for advice, but there would still be ones in which the opposite would be true.

_… __I was JUST talking to Rik about this, actually. Unfortunately, this Sealing Array seems to be far more complex than the ones that I remember, even though I can tell it is similar in nature to that last one you referred to previously. Compared to me however, Rik has far more experience, therefore its not impossible that he has a solution, unlike those two sets of memories you relied on just now. Hold on… Interesting… I see… Very well then. Alright Noire, this may take some time, but Rik has begun deciphering the Array to see how we can break through it. From what he tells me, its uncertain how long he's going to take, but it should be between 15 to 20 minutes…_

'WHAT?! But that way too long! Vicious could have gotten whatever he wants done by that point!'

_… __I know; however, it is the only option we have at the moment. Actually, that may not be the case, whilst Rik is deciphering it, how about you look through those books you took from the Divine Library? Back then, it had been your decision to claim the entire Library's contents as your own, thus you have a LOT of knowledge at your disposal. Even if they were mostly stories, there can still be something we may have missed back then. I think that, since there were so many in there, that there MIGHT be something which we could use in them. Its also a long shot due to the book quantity, however it will give you something to do in the meantime instead of being an impatient young girl…_

Noire growled under her breath, frustration evident just by looking at the aura which swirled around her form. It looked like a mix of Share/Divine Energy and that of the Demonic sort, showcasing the mixed nature that Noire had turned herself into. Even so however, a moment or two later the blackette managed to calm down enough to think rationally much quicker than before though. She may not like this, but she had to admit that Siegfried had a good argument. It wasn't like she could have done anything on this end, the Sealing Array took over the Door in a way where she couldn't insert the Orichalcum into it, making it so that she couldn't get through one bit. As such, until they had a proper way through, Noire would be stuck out here like an animal kicked out of its home by its owner for being naughty. Not an ideal comparison, but she could think of worse ones.

In the end, Noire groaned in annoyance, but relented to the suggestion offered to her. Walking to one of the walls after turning on her armoured heels, the blackette sat down there once she reached it, leaning back against the wall with her head tilted upwards. The moment that she did so, Noire released a sigh of relaxation she didn't even realize she had, her eyes closed whilst a slightly blissful expression formed on her features. She didn't realize it, but her feet had begun aching from all the activity she had been doing. It hadn't been that long since she had last rested, that time being when she had talked with Lid, but she guessed all the constant fighting she had been doing recently did a number on her feet. 'Even though my last major battle with that Geryon mostly had me in my Dragonblood Form ad up above the ground… then again, I sometimes touched ground and the beginning was like that anyways, so…'

Yeah, in any case, she decided to pull out one of the books she'd taken from the Divine Library, then another, then another… until finally she had a small semi-circle of books surrounding her, with one stack of 10 books on either side of her and another sitting on her lap. "Well, I guess there's no helping it, then…" she mused under her breath in resignation. Since she had nothing else to do, she might as well get some early research done. Although a lot of books focused on stories showing the journeys of great warriors throughout the DPU Era, there'd also been many books focusing on knowledge specifically, such as the ones which informed her about Satanic Treasures.

This current book, the one resting open on her lap, focused on Wardcraft, something which had INSTANTLY drawn her attention. The book looked to be quite large, rivalling some of the larger dictionaries she had seen about. Upon looking up the contents and then flipping to the start of the page, Noire hummed in satisfaction. "Alright, time to get some more answers. Now then… Oh!" just then though, something flashed within her mind, causing her eyes to gain this sparkling glint to them. "I almost forgot about those…" she mumbled, reaching into her inventory. She then pulled out…

A pair of thin-rimmed reading glasses.

Yeah, she had kept the ones she had bought before the incident with the Zombies and Avenir, though now they didn't serve the purpose of disguising like she had originally. These ones were more to help her concentrate on reading better, plus they gave her a comforting feeling. That and well, she would NEVER admit this to anyone, but… they would always serve to remind her of what Nico did before they first went on their first quest for Avenir. Of how he had taken her to that shop to get her a better disguise, of how he introduced her to a different section of the world she had no idea about. She may not have appreciated the 'being scared out of her wits by the gothic shopkeeper' part, but it did help her learn more about the guy and how he operated… not to mention it taught her a valuable lesson: that one's mask can come in many different forms, you just have to identify them.

"Hehehehe…" upon placing them over her eyes, Noire let a girlish giggle escape her throat. "Nico may have said these functioned poorly as a disguise, but they do suit the task of reading…. I feel like a librarian or someone smart when wearing these, too…" she remarked, stifling a few more excited giggles before she gripped the sides of the book and began to read in earnest.

_Wardcraft: for Beginners_

_Wardcraft, is a set of principles which govern how to apply Demonic Power to create magical phenomenon. It has been developed by the original DPUs of Life and Fate, with variants of it being developed by the DPUs of Death and Destruction to compensate. As the DPUs are a race of warrior Gods, few among them dabble in arcane arts by comparison, however this craft of Magic has since emerged from the DPU Era. Wardcraft allows a DPU's energy to cause phenomenon akin to natural disasters, For example messing with the elements, manipulating the cause and effect of a situation, enchanting, seals among other fields of study, however its potential is only as good as the one who is creating it. It is achieved through mastering and understanding the 'language' that each symbol was derived from, with there being thousands of them to memorize. Depending on how these runic symbols are arranged in, different phenomenon are possible to achieve. It is possible to create a seal which isolates an entire island under one pocket dimension for example, although Wardcrraft on this level relies on much preparation, energy and time to properly work. _

_The more complex a goal, the more complex, demanding and gruelling the Wards need to be. Wardcraft has the basic levels which are considered __**elementary**__ in difficulty, such as casting simple fireballs or generating icicles. Other examples include lightning, defensive barriers (restricted to the person only), simple enchantments, among other feats. The following levels are that of the complexity goals would be classed as in terms of the difficulty in casting them, taking into account prep time, energy consumption, time management and other variables:_

**_Elementary_**_\- simple spells and phenomenon manipulation, even a child would be able to cast these if they have the proper equipment and refined Demonic Power control. They can be cast easily and instantly, but the amount of potential they can unleash is limited thanks to their small scale. Yet even so, these Wards are excellent in combat, as that is where they are primarily focused on._

**_College_**_\- an intermediate difficulty level where Wardraft becomes increasingly complicate to develop. They are also not instantaneous unlike the elementary ones, yet these ones have more variety in their practical use. Examples of this include Seals, larger scale barriers, supporting Spells such as healing or debuffing. However, they don't take as long as the final level, not to mention that they start to require slightly longer time periods to cast, making them less practical for a combat scenario. The best way to use such spells in combat theoretically would be if one had comrades to distract the enemy and buy them time to prepare and activate them. _

**_University _**_– __The hardest, toughest level of the Wardcraft world, this tier is for only the most complicated spells which are nigh impossible to use in a combat situation due to all the prep work, energy and time needed to develop them. University level Wardcraft is never meant to be used during Combat, instead it is prepared far beforehand. As such, it is possible to 'store' University Level Wardcraft within the user for later use, though this is a one-time action meaning that once used, that piece of Wardcraft would have to be prepared again from scratch. Examples of Wardcraft in this level include manipulation of other people through their minds, bodies or souls, any Soul related Wardcraft, large-scale Seals which have more than 2 different functions happening at once, and Wardcraft which altered cause and effect. Furthermore, the University level Wardcraft requires great finesse in controlling, as even the SLIGHTEST mishap can have deadly consequences upon the body of the user, which helps separate it from the other tiers. _

_The fundamentals are that one has to understand how to arrange the symbols and 'speak' the language of Wardcraft to obtain the specified objective. Depending on how they are aligned, these Symbols make different results, however the more complicated one arranges the Symbols, the more they will have to form 'Arrays' of Symbols. Arrays are these series of Wardcraft Symbols which, in comparison to writing, are like a large paragraph consisting of different sentences. The more complex Arrays are even described as their own one-shot stories or full-on Novels. Obviously, the more complex a Wardcraft piece the more one will get from it, it just depends on the user themselves. _

The more she read about it, the more entranced Noire became, especially when she read more about the different levels of Wardcraft that could be performed. Manipulating space time, concepts, reality, isolating areas in their own dimensional areas, the possibilities this 'Wardcraft' had were almost ENDLESS in their applications, which explained why she got the impression of this introduction being slightly vague. Turned out that DPUs even had their own magic system which seemed just as OP as everything else about them, something Noire honestly found her mind becoming exhausted just by comprehending this notion. She'd already known how dangerous they had to be before, heck she even had first-hand experience, but THIS just felt like icing on the cake to her. She even saw a section which detailed how to 'curse' other beings with Wardcraft, the higher tier curses having their own specifications. Each Curse had their own results, their own conditions, potential drawbacks, everything got explained in such great detail that even someone like her, who likely would never be able to USE Wardcraft (though she knew someone who could), managed to understand the majority of it.

Upon feeling that she had enough reading for one day, Noire released a breath she didn't realize she had been holding, closing the book on her lap. Well, at least it helped her calm down from her previous state. She then glanced towards the stacks beside her, and like the book on her lap, she swiftly chose to deposit them back into her inventory. Reflecting on her current actions, Noire wondered if it had been out of character for her to do this, as instead she felt like someone like her would have begun pacing about in irritation or impatience until a solution presented itself. Still, she couldn't deny that what she did had been a much more productive use of her time, though not the BEST one. A good read, no perhaps a relaxing hobby would be a better way to describe her current actions, but nonetheless it tended to do that to someone… though she didn't read things like this very often, that would be more of HER schtick, sometimes change could prove refreshing. Still this didn't detract from the main issue at hand here, and that was the fact that she had to get herself out of the mess she had currently found herself in otherwise she would risk failing to stop Vicious in time, such a thing being utterly unacceptable in her mind.

'Any updates on Rik's end, Siegfried?'

Eventually, Noire decided to see if her Heroic Spirit mentor/partner had anything to say about the status of her Appetite Demon's activities. She didn't know how much time had passed since she had begun reading up on Wardcraft, but it had to have been a significant time frame, she knew this due to a gut feeling she had, not something she would usually trust since that wasn't conduct befitting of a ruler, but right now in this situation her gut proved to her many times to be one of her literal best friends forever.

_… __I was just about to inform you, upon his request. Rik has found out how to break this barrier, but it will take a lot out of you, not to mention it won't be quick…_

'Well if we can get this over with and get inside, then its our best option. What do I do?'

_… __What you must do is this, you must impale a certain section of the Array with your sword and pump Demonic Power through it, into the Array, as such you will need to Devil Trigger for this. If an Array is like a paragraph, then it'll become all ineligible if certain 'grammar' functions like full stops are taken out of the equation. Some are more important than others though, so should they vanish the entire Array will no longer function. Share Energy isn't as chaotic as Demonic Power, which is why it won't be very helpful, if at all, here. I will guide you on where you will need to impale myself Rik has informed me of where the more crucial sections of the Array are since he cannot do so himself. Are you ready?..._

Once Noire gave him her approving nod, Siegfried began to instruct her on where to strike and how to render the Sealing Array unable to operate. She listened to him whilst she Devil Triggered, drawing upon Chaoseater as she impaled certain spots on the Array one at a time. This process remained slow and tedious however and that had not just been to do with the complexity of the Array itself. Apparently, it also had a secondary Array within it, one which dealt in auto recovery for the larger Array, kind of like supporting a dying patient with life support in a hospital. As such, Noire/Abyss Heart had to disable that Array first before she could even THINK about dealing with the other one.

Whilst she did so, Abyss Heart kept her composure unlike her human self who would likely start showing signs of her budding frustration. This largely had to do with the demonic influence on her mind when in this state, although she doubted it would be as effective as the composure expressed by a DPU in their true forms, as going by the previously established logic she had gleaned, Demons were NOTHING in comparison to DPUs, especially in powers, abilities and potential for growth. Not to mention that she couldn't help but get excited over the fact that she finally, FINALLY would gain the chance for that rematch which she so craved down to her very being. Even Chaoseater, as it impaled and transferred her energy into the Array, seemed to practically tremble in her grip as if to respond to her excitement and bloodlust.

* * *

Unbeknownst to her, deep inside her psyche Rik could be seen chuckling in amusement, especially a how well his partner had taken to becoming a Demonic Power wielder. Whoever says evil cannot defeat evil was a goddamn moron to him, whilst two evils fighting would always have an evil remaining alive at the end, it doesn't mean its no salvageable. His partner herself, she could be considered evil, at least somewhat evil, but compared to everything else in this twisted, rotten and barren hunk of rock they called Gamindustri, she'd be considered the lesser of evils. Plus, there was always going to be evil around, just like good.

Good and Evil.

Order and Chaos.

Light and Darkness.

To him, these forces were essentially two sides of the same coin, if one could use one side then the other could be used as well. They may be opposing forces, making unison nigh impossible, but if one could balance these two forces into a mutually beneficial relationship, then THEY would become the TRULY strong beings in this Dimension.

* * *

Meanwhile, on the other side of the door...

Fury and frustration began to bubble wildly inside Vicious' chest as he proceeded to encircle the indent in the room's centre, gripping his Katana's scabbard in his righthand tightly, as in so tight that were it any ordinary weapon then it would have shattered under his strength. He'd been doing this for a while now, waiting for something to happen, a change to signify that his efforts weren't fruitless. Before, he had activated the sequence to jumpstart the Temen-Ni-Gru by combining both the Amulet that he took from Noire back in their battle atop the Tower, as well as the Amulet he had already possessed. He'd then made sure to drop them into the indent then, after drawing his Katana, he would grip its blade over the indent with his free hand, allowing the blood which would drip down as a result to fill it up to the brim. Demons and blood usually went hand in hand, in more ways than one, thus he wasn't really surprised or creeped out at the fact that this had to be necessary. Still, the fact that nothing had happened just now made him wonder if something had gone wrong, if there was a step that he had missed which had been the cause for his current ravaging of his brain for any details that he may have missed or overlooked.

According to what Vicious knew from his studies into the Tower, the blood of a powerful DPU alongside the two Amulets which had once been used to seal up the Temen-Ni-Gru whilst its original owner fled this place like the coward that he was. The reason why it had been designed that way, was due to the Owner not wanting any ordinary foe to possess this Satanic Treasure, a Tower containing a vast amount of knowledge, items and experiences which could elevate one's own ability to unimaginable levels. A Satanic Treasure developed by the Cult who worshiped him as their patron deity for his own personal use. One could say that whoever owned this Satanic Treasure would be able to own a DPUs entire legacy, something which didn't occur very often since DPUs normally hoarded their fortunes with dark and fierce desires, but there were a few out there whom decided to leave legacy's behind for any potential successors, but that wasn't important to him right now. The Satanic Treasure served as both a home, and as a storage space, but near the end of its time before its sealing, its master had implanted it into the ground and stationed it here, making it so that it couldn't be move without his say so. That master, that bastard known as Hojo, irritated Vicious immensely but he did indeed have good foresight, having predicted that he would eventually fall. As such he had stored everything he had here, all his experiences, knowledge and treasures had been culminated into this one Satanic Treasure. However, only the true owner would be able to access it all, with those who didn't qualify only able to access the bare minimal of these. The REAL good stuff lay deeper within the Tower's storage space, only available to the true master.

To become its true master, one needed to possess both the Amulets which Hojo had used to seal the Tower away... though, there were records which hinted at another sacrifice, but Vicious believed that to be the blood of a powerful DPU. They then had to be recognized by the Tower itself as someone who had enough power to control this Treasure, as in terms of ranking this Treasure had been around the Demonic and Chaos Class in terms of power and ability. It wouldn't recognize anyone weak as its owner, any less and it wouldn't even acknowledge the person's existence, no matter how hard they tried. This Tower had thousands upon THOUSANDS of hidden secrets inside of it

He mentally made sure not to think anymore about that asshole, otherwise Vicious felt like he'd bust a vein.

Still, despite his best efforts...

"WHY ISN'T THIS WORKING?!"

… Those words got released from his throat as his pacing sounds filled the room. Ironically enough, considering his past actons towards the entrance his pacing masked the sounds of the door slowly opening.

Confusion mixed itself in with the frustration inside his chest as Vicious felt his Demonic Power responding to his emotions, resulting in the very room itself being engulfed within it. Because of the amount of self control he had, as well as his pride befitting of a DPU of his standard, he managed to contain his power within this room otherwise it would have spread throughout the entire continent. Still, his aura caused the entire Tower to shudder and groan, as if it were an organism in and of itself with its own sentience... something which he wouldn't doubt if it were the case.

What had he missed though? For the life of him the man couldn't think of anything which he could have missed, he'd made sure EVERY criteria had been met, with no room for error.

Was there a need for more blood to be shed? Was that it? According to his past experiences, Vicious knew that DPUs tended to value blood highly, almost as bad as dragons did with their treasury they'd acquired over countless centuries. So, would it be possible that more blood needed to be shed before the Temen-Ni-Gru could be bound to him as its new master? Perhaps some more unique blood was needed alongside his own? That could be a possibility, but if that was the case, then where could he gain more blood?

"Hmph, looks like someone's getting al worked up like a little bratty kid..."

"?!"

Upon suddenly hearing a feminine, haughty voice from behind him, Vicious sharply turned around whilst getting into a drawing stance with his free hand on his Katana's hilt. The moment he did, he saw the culprit being Noire, said girl having drawn Balmung and held it in her right hand. Not only that, but Ashbringer which hadn't appeared from within her being for a while, had appeared on her back, attached to it as if it were a backpack. Looked like she had prepared herself for any kind of sneak attack he might have pulled off just now, he saw. However, instead of focusing on this Vicious only let out a derisive scoff. "Goddess..." he spat, narrowing his eyes at her. "So, I lookslike all those Demons weren't enough to finish you..." he muttered, before he eyed her chest where her torso was. Before she could glare at him with the eyes of a woman suspecting a man of being a pervert, he continued. "I see that the Devil in you is properly awake, as well..."

"Save the flattery for someone who cares." Noire retorted as she began circling around him, prompting Vicious to do the same but in the opposite direction. This resulted in the two circling each other, like lions preparing to duke it out over a territory dispute. Noire kept her Balmung ready for any surprise strikes, whilst Vicious kept his hands on his Katana as well. Normally, she would likely have drunk in the blank feeling praise that this DPU had sent her way, but in all honesty she would rather it come from people she truly wanted to acknowledge her, and THIS guy did NOT fit that high standard. "So... this is why you took my Amulet... apparently, its some sort of key to opening a portal to a Demon World, huh...?"

Upon hearing those words, Vicious smirked darkly. So, she had become aware of that little titbit, huh? It didn't look like she knew the full story, but then again at this stage in the game it wasn't really necessary for there to be any deceit. Nothing could stop the Temen-Ni-Gru from fully awakening now anyways, even if the awakening wasn't completing itself for whatever reason. "Originally. It was once given to a relative of mine as a gift, but he was a fool who hid it away from me, knowing that I'd try to take these riches for myself." he replied, chuckling in a mocking manner. "You truly have no idea on how big this situation really is, do you?" he remarked, shaking his head as if to say he had begun pitying her lack of knowledge, mocking and insulting her pride as both a Goddess and as a Warrior.

However, unlike before, Noire didn't rise to the bait. "Meh, I'll think about that later." she simply responded in a dismissive manner, flicking her free hand to the side whilst shrugging the same shoulder it was attached to like it was no big deal. Afterwards, she stopped moving, causing Vicious to do the same, as she pointed her Noble Phantasm at him. "In any case, looks like you're plans aren't doing so hot, so how about you and I have a little rematch? I've been itching to wipe that disgusting smirk off your face for a while now..." she remarked, before practice swinging Balmung to the side and getting into her Sword Mistress stance.

Vicious scowled in her direction, his hands partially pulling his Katana out of its Scabbard with a noticeable metallic grinding sound coming from it. Not only that, but his eyes began gaining a slightly dim glow for a moment... before they returned to normal. Furthermore, he sheathed his Katana once more, much to Noire's surprise before she scowled irritably at him, thinking he wasn't going to take her seriously. "Feelings which got confirmed in the following moments. "Well, why not? I guess I have some time to kill..." he remarked, shrugging his shoulders in a 'what can you do?' fashion before he entered a military-like combat stance. Following this, several flashes covered his arms, a set of gauntlets and greaves glowing with a brilliant white light manifesting over them. After they manifested, a sinister, insulting look came across his face as he beckoned her forth by flipping his right hand up so its palm faced the ceiling, then shook his fingers back and forth in the ;'come' gesture. "So, I think I'll play with you for a little bit, little girl. Try to last a couple more seconds than you did before, why don't you?"

* * *

**Chapter end**

**Whelp, another chapter done, guys. Not much else to say other than to keep an eye out for the next chapter... and BOY won't THAT one be fun to write. Not only will it be Noire and Vicious' second fight, but also the revelations which will follow it... I have been hinting at them, but not all of them will be revealed, the ones about Vicious' goals will likely be, but the ones pertaining to Noire, not so much. In any case, hope you liked the chapter, and i'll see you next one. **

**Peace Out!**


	29. Chapter 29 - Battle within the Chamber

**Chapter 29 - Battle within the Sacrificial Chamber**

**(Play Pacific Rim OST – Main Theme)**

CLANG-TWANG. SMASH, TWING-BANG-BANG-BANG- CLANG-TWANG. SMASH, TWING-BANG-BANG-BANG- CLANG-TWANG. SLASH, TWING-BANG-BANG-BANG-CLANG-TWANG. SMASH, TWING-SMASH!

The sounds of conflict echoed throughout the room as its sole two occupants duked it out like vicious beasts vying for their own turf. Sometimes they clashed in one section of the room, then they'd bounce over to another side where the clashes would continue as if unimpeded by their location. Neither of them focused upon anything else except for one goal in their minds… well, one goal each, anyways. Whilst one looked to settle an old score, the other currently had begun experimenting with a new weapon they had recently obtained as a Devil Arm. Obviously, this didn't sit well with the other one, but it wasn't like she could change that… unless she outright dominated him in this battle, that is. The sounds high volume translated the intensity of the duel with each strike sending out rippling shockwaves through the air. Each clash also erupting into explosions of brilliant orange sparks.

Pulling back from the 40th clash they had in the last 5 minutes, Noire hopped backwards and slid across the ground, Balmung raised above her head as she brought it downwards. Good thing too, for Vicious had sausage flipped through the air and brought his right knee down towards her head, aiming to utterly smash it into mush. She even sensed a power build-up behind the blow, coming from the energy that the Devil Arm itself emitted. As a result, the moment that his knee impacted Balmung's flat side, an eruption of light followed suit, the force of the shockwave causing her legs to tremble and nearly give in had she not pushed him away in time. Noire then jumped forwards, twirling into a reverse horizontal slash aimed at his throat, not unlike that of a professional slasher would his or her unlucky victims.

Vicious had anticipated this on the other hand, as during his descent he kicked upwards with his left leg, deflecting the blow and entering a handstand position. He then followed this up with a low sweep kick, one which hit her on the left thigh which caused Noire's leg to bend under the sudden strain. Noire gasped when she felt this, falling into a crouch position so Vicious exploited this opportunity to switch his balancing hand and twist his body around, launching another kick towards the side of her head. However, her reflexes kicked in and saved her ass just in time, proof being when she swung Balmung upwards and hit the Devil Arm attached to the offending limb, the shockwave causing her to be sent rolling backwards across the floor.

She didn't let this deter her however, and swiftly used the momentum to roll back onto her feet, then quickly assume her Dragonblood Form. At that point, Noire mentally cringed whilst outside she did her best to keep the pain inside from showing on her face. The pain erupted from her back, yet felt like it was reaching down to her very SOUL, causing her to feel nigh uncontrollable agony. 'Ughhhh… guuuhhhh… great, looks like Ashbringer's acting up again…' she thought, biting the insides of her mouth so she could endure the pain more. Her mind had already acknowledged the fact that using Ashbringer in any other form than her human one (and her Goddess one, but that likely was to do with how it had likely been still assimilating into her soul at the time, or something along those lines) would cause her immense pain, but right now it would be worth it to take this smug son of a gun down a few pegs.

With Balmung gripped tightly in hand, Noire yelled out a fierce battle cry not unlike that of a furious Valkyrie, before she sped right back to her opponent who had just gotten back onto his feet. He didn't seem too threatened by this though, something she made sure to change when she unloaded a LACE RIBBON DANCE on his ass, slashing at him diagonally once which he blocked with his right gauntlet. She then used her Tail as a whip, catching him by surprise when it thwacked him across the face with enough strength that, if he were a normal human, would have sent his head flying off. Using that momentary distraction, Noire back flipped and kicked him below his jaw, knocking Vicious into the air before jumping after him post flip. She then double kicked him in the stomach, landed then hopped back up to finish the job with a slash from both Balmung AND her Tail, sending him flying away.

As he righted himself in the air, having fortunately managed to block her strikes with his Gauntlets, Vicious scoffed as he landed, his feet nearly breaking the ground beneath him had he not regulated his strength correctly. He didn't want to damage his future property too much after all. Upon his halting of movement, Vicious jumped straight towards Noire, appearing right in front of her with a straight kick which connected to her abdomen, the Goddess/Demon Hybrid having bent forwards with a gasp, not having had enough time to react. He then vanished and appeared right behind her, kicking her up into the air then jumping after her, aiming to flip backwards continuously like a wheel to sever her in half at the waist.

Something which Noire noticed in time as she thwacked him with her Tail as he rose upwards, causing him to misdirect his attack and hit the roof above her instead. Kicking him away, Noire back flipped till she had righted herself upwards, landing on the ground on all fours with an audible THUD sound beneath her. Upon her landing, Noire shuddered for a brief second, before she calmed down and gritted her teeth under her breath. That had been a close call, if she had reacted a millisecond sooner she'd likely have experienced a horrible game over moment… it had been proven to her through this fight that Vicious' punches and blade-like kicks had the power to bypass her defences even in her Dragonblood Form, which meant that it couldn't offer the same kind of protection that it usually could. An annoying trait, sure, but not one she couldn't work her way around eventually. Still, the lack of progress made in this fight got to her, as so far neither of them had inflicted that much damage upon one another. It really grated on her nerves, yup it sure as hell did. Part of her just wanted to unleash her Noble Phantasm's power and just be done with it already, though she refrained from doing that for obvious reasons. 'Tch, this isn't getting me anywhere…' she thought to herself, glaring at the recovering Vicious who glared right back. 'If I want to get this guy to go serious for once, I'll likely have to press my advantage…'

Just then, her eyes widened when she noticed Vicious having already closed the distance between them, having recovered his previous posture and thus launching an aerial spiralling straight kick her way. Noire barely managed to roll out the way in time, resulting in Vicious slamming into the ground instead though he didn't let that stop him. Instead, he twirled around and jumped towards her, launching a spinning helicopter kick her way. Noire parried and deflected each blow aimed at her, but the last one forced her to raise Balmung upwards, allowing Vicious (who smirked like a tiger right now) to land, rear a fist back and deliver a straight punch to the gut without mercy.

"Gah!"

A sharp gasp of pain tore through her being at this, forcing her to bend over which got followed up by an uppercut which knocked her into the air. Upon doing so, Vicious jumped up after her, repeatedly throwing dozens of punches at her until he had delivered 50 of them in a single second, each of them having hit vital areas. If it weren't for her Dragonblood Form, Noire would have lost consciousness from the force coming from this consecutive barrage assaulting her currently. Eventually, Vicious entered a front flip and brought his heel down onto the back of her head, getting a loud cry from her for his troubles as she got sent crashing into the ground below. She bounced right back up upon impact, so as he fell down towards her, Vicious reared his leg back as if he were a football player preparing to score a goal into a goalie's net… before the gathered power got launched at her alongside the kick which sent her flying across the room.

Blood erupted from her mouth as it felt like her ribcage got caved in from the barrage, pain flooding her senses without mercy as Noire impacted the wall with a loud CRASH accompanying her. 'Aaaaargh…!' she screamed mentally, falling onto the ground and, seconds later, being forced to swing her Tail around to her front to block a punch which had been intended to smash her head into paste. Vicious lived up to his namesake, and never before had she felt that statement being truer than right at this moment. Still didn't make her drive to get even with this asshole any less, though.

'G-Geez, this not going well for me! I have to get some distance between us but how…? Oh yeah!'

An idea erupted within her mind, prompting Noire to make the following move. Looking up at Vicious who looked to be preparing to finish her off if the reared back fist which constantly surged with evil-feeling light was any indication, Noire instantly became aware of her short time window. However, she refused to make any careless movements, knowing that this next bit needed absolutely PERFECT timing to be able to work. If she just got even the slightest bit wrong, then she may as well have lost her life.

Just as the man's blow descended upon her, with only a couple inches between his blow and her face…

FLASH!

Noire's eyes widened as she went and unleashed her Quicksilver ability. As a result, everything around her suddenly halted in all motion, everything within the grasp of both time and space themselves. The moment she saw the effects of her ability activate, Noire stayed there in silence, her heart hammering away within the confines of her chest. A couple nanoseconds later though, did she release a sigh of relief, eyes closing shut. Looked like it worked then, this marked the first time she had deigned to use this ability within a combat situation, having forced herself to remember the feelings she got which activated the ability back at Geryon's Stadium. Still, she didn't let this deter her from what she needed to do, she could already feel the ability wearing off, so she thus put on her game face, eyes opening with a steely expression within those crimson orbs. As such, Noire quickly got some distance between her and Vicious, rolling sideways before spreading her draconian wings and flying over to the opposite side of the room. Since she had focused entirely on evasion, she didn't think of potentially counterattacking him whilst this ability remained active.

Once she landed and turned around, the ability itself deactivated, allowing time and space to resume their natural course. As it did so, Noire performed a quick check on her Demonic Power reserves and found that, fortunately for her, there should still be enough for her Devil Trigger state. She may need to use that ability soon if the unison use of her three swords weren't enough, Dragon Fault being excluded for now. 'Still, now that I'm here, I'll be able to counterattack soon…' she thought as Vicious turned around and noticed her. His eyebrow arched at her for a second, before preparing to strike once more… likely intending to close the distance in one fell swoop without giving her any warnings whatsoever.

If that was the case, then…

Holding out her free hand, Noire decided to bring out her last weapon, Nevular. The 7-Pronged Sword manifested in her hand via a flash of lightning, its form engulfed in its ominous purple aura whilst sparks danced between its prongs. Upon looking at it, Vicious quickly noticed that the sword was no ordinary sword, having an aura similar to that of a Devil Arm yet not at the same time. However, he didn't pay it much more attention than that since he didn't see her as much of a threat right now, instead he glanced down at his newest Devil Arm and hummed to himself. "I see… interesting, looks like I'll be able to draw out quite the power from these… only a shame that the previous user had been so incompetent that he couldn't even BEGIN to use this power to its fullest potential…" he mumbled in an evaluative manner, before looking back to Noire whom had already begun charging at him.

Upon getting close enough, Noire swung Balmung in a diagonal slash upwards, something which Vicious deflected easily, though she didn't stop there since she instead used the momentum to go into a follow-up reverse horizontal slash with Nevular. The man, instead of deflecting, decided to block the strike with his right Gauntlet, something which Noire expected as she unloaded one of the techniques she'd developed:

"See if you like this then! LIGHTNING RELEASE: LIGHTNING VIOLENT SOAK!"

After yelling that out, Noire switched her grip on Nevular into a reverse grip, before stabbing it into the ground before her. To Vicious, this action looked more like she had discarded the weapon, a notion which soon vanished from his mind when single large streak of Lightning raced through the ground and hit him before he could dodge. As a result, the man grunted when he felt countless bolts of Lightning coming from the streak run through his body, electrifying it from the inside out, though other than that he showed little reaction. "Hmph… like this…!" He made to say before making to move his arms…

Only to find that he couldn't.

Eyes widened slightly in shock and surprise, whilst Noire herself just smirked darkly, her eyes gleaming with equally dark intent as she rushed forwards, flying towards him to get to him quicker. She'd developed this technique along with the LIGHTNING FANG, a strike meant to immobile the enemy by having Lightning target the enemy's nerve system, immobilizing them for a brief moment to allow her a chance to finish them off. It wasn't a technique suited to group fights though, more for single combat, which was something which suited her just fine. Not to mention that she had a few techniques in mind for outdoor fights as well, techniques which, once she became able to draw upon Nevular's full power, would only grow in ability and effectiveness. Upon closing the distance between them, Noire swung Balmung in a wide arc, slicing through his right arm and stopping behind him. That wasn't all that she had done however…

SLASH-SLASH-SLASH- SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH!

… As the moment she stood up tall, Noire clicked her fingers, and in that moment, NUMEROUS slash marks appeared all over Vicious' body. Slash marks which varied in terms of how deep they dug into him, but a of them had a degree of holy energy installed within them, the Ashbringer on her back seemingly finishing a glowing spectacle indicating fine well where these wounds had come from. Not to mention that they covered him from head to toe, practically leaving no spec of skin untouched, making him look like he had just barely escaped the grip of a humanoid shredder.

"Guh…!"

Vicious grunted a bit louder this time, as blood splattered across the ground in multiple long, curving lines. Lines born when the blood spread forth from his many instantaneous wounds. Bigger patches fell and spread forth from where his severed arm landed, all the while this allowed the Lightning within his body to expel into the atmosphere, freeing his body from its previous state. Although, it didn't quell his surge of indignant anger in the least, instead he just gave a murderous glare towards Noire after turning his head to look at her, Demonic Power seeping out over his form and mending his wounds. As for his severed limb, energy tendrils ripped from the stump he had now and latched onto it, pulling the arm back into its spot… Though not without Noire trying to destroy it by pulling out Luce and Ombra and peppering it with holes. In the end, it managed to survive, but more energy had to be expended to heal it to 100% capacity.

Once his injuries had healed and his Devil Arm, which had to reform once he lost the arm, returned to existence Vicious shuddered from the anger at the Goddess he felt inside. Raw ad primal fury burned within him like a furnace, threatening to consume him entirely as well as what could be considered his small level of sanity. He hated this bitch before, but now he absolutely loathed her for even DARING to injure him like this. Him, HIM! A DPU! A God of the battlefield who'd been around since before this slut had been even born! Whilst she had been in her own diapers, he'd been out there fighting on one battlefield after another, overcoming countless trials and tribulations to get to the point he had! Thus, seeing as how he had been damaged to this extent to where he had to heal his body like this, it… well, more than just stung at his pride.

Moreover, this insect dared to subvert his expectations in this way, and THAT got treated as just as important part of this as his desire to utterly rip her a new one. He did NOT expect her to have become able to damage him like she had, nor did he expect her growth rate to be this much. Not only that, but upon looking her up and down (Noire glared at him even harder when he did this), it seemed like she still had potential yet tapped into, meaning she would only get stronger and stronger from here on out. Right now, there were still unchecked elements to her powers, meaning that she wasn't making full use of what she had right now, resulting in Vicious concluding something in his mind:

This bitch must die.

She absolutely NEEDED to perish if he wanted to achieve his goals.

Not to mention that more than just him would benefit from her death, but right now they seemed way less important.

"I see… so you have indeed gotten stronger, you little brat…" he mumbled under his breath, turning to face her whilst gripping his left arm's fist and unclenching it several times. Mostly so he could get feeling back into it after the limb had just fully healed over. Sometimes that happened, others it didn't, so he'd developed it just to be sure… though, it had been a long, LONG time since he had last lost an arm in such a humiliating mannerism before. He'd make sure to pay this useless slut back for that one.

Said slut just rolled her eyes and gave a mocking smile back to him. "Why thank you, I try my best." She responded in a fake sweet voice, even going as far as to bow to him whilst her body exuded the very opposite of what someone bowing to another should signify. It ended up increasing his fury towards her, which had been the intention on the blackette's part. Now that he was starting to see her as less of an ant and more of an enemy, if what she could see from his eyes was any indication, then this fight had finally begun. 'Alright then, lets see how well you fare against me this time…' she thought with an excited giggle, her bloodlust starting to manifest within her being. "Now then, I wonder how long it'll take to, mind my language, beat your sorry ass till you whine like a little bitch…!"

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNG!

Upon noticing just how she had treated him, a superior being compared to her, Vicious' anger reached a breaking point inside of him. If THAT was how she wanted to play with this, then fine, he'll play her game. In that moment, the man's Devil Arm vanished from his form, having been called back into his being whilst Vicious slowly drew his Katana, accompanied by a surge of pressure which layered itself onto the atmosphere. As he strode towards her, his shadow seemingly looming over her form as if he were an apex predator, Noire's eyes went from confident to shocked surprise at the sudden change, especially when the pressure caused her to breathe irregularly as she struggled to stay standing upright. "So… you'd rather I take you seriously then…? Very well, I'll show you…" He began, before his face contorted into an ugly, twisted borderline insane expression. "JUST WHAT IT MEANS TO ANGER YOUR BETTERS, YOU BITCH!"

Instantly, he appeared before her, swinging his Katana at her throat before she could even acknowledge the attack's existence. However, Noire reacted fast by sensing the killing intent behind the blow instead, bending backwards which allowed her to not only keep her head attached to her shoulders, but also to see how just the air pressure from the slash carved a gash into the wall as deep as a trench, very nearly having cut right through the walls itself. Her Tail then whipped forth, lunging towards Vicious in a thwacking motion to which the DPU vanished from sight once again.

'Hah, like that'd work twice!'

Instead of letting him get the drop on her though, Noire quickly flapped her wings a single time, generating a wave of dust from the ground which spread outwards. Underhanded tactic? Nope, she saw it as a necessary method to isolate her target, after all this wasn't a championship match in a tournament, nope this was a FIGHT, and everything would be classified as fair in a fight. This ended up causing the attacking Vicious to stumble backwards, covering his face with his arm to shield his eyes… as well as reveal his position to her. 'Gotcha, you're mine!' the blackette thought triumphantly, glad that her tactic had worked. As a result, under the cover of the dust wave, Noire turned towards him and, with a thrust of Nevular, aimed and launched a LIGHTNING FANG at him, something which Vicious noticed and sliced in half with his Katana.

She didn't let this surprise her though, as before the dust settled Noire dashed towards him, then swung towards his face in a downward diagonal slash. However, this proved to be a feint as she vanished and reappeared right before reverse swinging at his exposed side. Vicious however, responded abruptly by jabbing the rear end of his Katana downwards and blocking the strike at the last moment, much to Noire's surprise. She quickly used her Tail to block one of his kicks though, wrapping the limb around it and lifting him up into the air. She then twirled around a full 360 degrees before tossing the man away… for which he instantly closed the distance between them and struck 4 times in one second.

As such, Noire managed to block the first two with Balmung and Nevular but had to finally start using Ashbringer's LIGHT DRIVE to get away in time. Those slashes which hit her DID manage to break through her body's defences though, resulting in two bloody scars which ran moderately deep through her form, whilst the ones that didn't left deep gashes. Noire didn't give them much heed right now though, having Ashbringer start using its LIGHT FLASH to heal her body. Whilst it did that, she then raised Nevular upwards the brought it down, launching what looked to be a Pillar of Lightning from the blade itself towards her opponent, intending to shock him into submission.

On the other hand, Vicious moved past it, almost like a phantom as he appeared by her right side about 8 meters away from her. He'd already sheathed his Katana and had entered a quick draw stance, causing her eyes to widen in realization of what he would be doing next. 'Oh no, not going to be THAT easy, buster…!' she thought, trying to refrain from foul language as she managed to get out of the incoming spatial attack's range. Once the attacks completed themselves and Vicious stood up with his Katana drawn, Noire flew towards him with Balmung and Nevular at the ready. 'Unlike last time, I'm aware of what that Katana can do, better luck next time!'

Just as she made to slash him like an X, Noire saw the man's form fade out of existence, making her eyes widen again but this time out of realization of what had just happened. 'Of course, if he can slice trough lightning then he can DEFINITELY make afterimages of her speed…' she thought, before instincts screamed at her to turn to the right and hold her swords out. She did… and turned out it was the right thing to do since it allowed her to block the incoming quickdraw strike Vicious launched at her after appearing there. It did manage to send her sliding across the room though, something which Vicious exploited by bursting forth in a fast display of speed. He dashed right past her, stopping in a crouch-like position with his sword held in front of him diagonally, the blade mostly sheathed inside its scabbard. He slowly slid the rest in, until with a CLICK, it completely got sheathed.

In that moment, over 100 slashes formed around Noire, forcing her to spin around whilst slashing like her life depended on it in order to avoid damage. Her heart hammered away within her ribcage as she almost felt like she had begun seeing her life flash before her eyes, the killing intent behind each slash so that she felt like if she couldn't block them, she would meet her end. She managed to do so quite well actually, but the last 20 still managed to bypass her defences and damage her body, forming two large gashes into an X over her front whilst numerous other wounds formed everywhere else. Even her wings looked to have been shredded a bit, though not to the extent where they would be unable to provide flight. Blood splattered across the ground in a manner not unlike what Noire had done to Vicious prior to this statement, something which the man smirked smugly at as he aimed a sickening look of approval towards her current state.

"Hmmm… yes, that's the way…" the man mused, striding over confidently whilst Noire started to use Ashbringer's LIGHT FLASH to heal herself. It wasn't going as fast as it normally would though, much to her hidden shock. Upon examining the slashes with her energy, Noire quickly realized the cause, there being small traces of Demonic Power littering them from the sword which had dealt them to her. It Wasn't exactly enough to reduce her to a state similar to how she'd been in West Wind Valley, but it still slowed down the healing process significantly. "Mongrels DO fit this better; I say…"

"Oh, shut it!"

Noire shouted that in his direction, as she instead decided to do something else, something which in hindsight would have been best achieved in the beginning so she could have caught him off guard. Her body began to radiate Demonic Power as Ashbringer, Balmung and Nevular simply vanished from her form and returned to their respective places, ready to be summoned at any time. The energy manifested around her as this crimson, electrifying cloud which covered her frame as if it were a second skin, before finally with a loud war cry, the energy erupted from Noire's body as she entered her Devil Trigger form. Brandishing Chaoseater which manifested from a swirling spiralling vortex of energy, the now named Abyss Heart glared angrily at her opponent, her multiple wings flared outwards as she charged at him.

However, instead of being stunned by this change, Vicious just grinned like a shark, clutching his Katana tightly as his bloodlust increased even more. "Hah, I see… that must be the Devil inside…" he remarked, before his grin dropped into a disappointed frown, a sigh escaping his lips afterwards whilst he began shrugging his shoulders. "Looks like it won't last very long though, odds are its due to that Quicksilver ability you seem to have used previously to stop time…" he commented, twirling his sheathed Katana and thrusting it right into Abyss Heart's face.

The strike however, instead hit her in the torso when Abyss Heart managed to adjust the angle slightly, causing her to bend forwards like a reverse 'C', but as she went flying backwards, she managed to grab the Katana's scabbard. This caused Vicious' eyes to widen in surprised anger, but he couldn't stop her from flying off with it. However, he didn't need to part with the scabbard for long, since Abyss Heart twirled around a full 360 degrees and threw the Scabbard towards him as if she had threw a Javelin during the Olympics, causing the Scabbard to slam back onto the exposed Katana and send him sliding backwards.

Abyss Heart, meanwhile, managed to flap her demonic Wings a couple times to halt her momentum, causing a small cloud of dust to swoosh upwards behind her like a wave clashing against a cliff-face. Holding Chaoseater at the ready, the transformed woman held herself in a defensive stance, she awaited what Vicious would do next, since it had been obvious since the beginning that the guy surpassed her in speed. When she'd used her Dragonblood Form, she'd surpassed him in endurance and healing since she had Ashbringer, but right now this felt more and more like a whole new ball game. Now that she had Devil Triggered, no longer would she be able to use that sword, lest she suffer even more damage than she would in her Dragonblood Form.

"But still…"

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGG!

Even whilst she had kept her guard up, Abyss Heart still felt her breath leave her throat against her will when all of a sudden, a surge of Demonic Power erupted forth from where Vicious had been located, racing forth and filling the room with its presence before anyone could even realize it. The Energy roared like the Demon which commanded it, filling the air with a heavy pressure much like that of many thousand-kilogram weights. However, Abyss Heart steeled her nerves in response, her eyes narrowing into slits whilst she gritted her teeth behind her pursed lips, having quickly adapted herself to this pressure and floated in a defensive position. Chaoseater, by her will, became engulfed with Crimson Lightning whilst its Demonic Aura flared in retaliation against the oppressive pressure dominating the atmosphere.

All this preparation though…

SMASH!

… Meant absolutely jack shit in the following seconds.

"Gah!" A sharp gasp escaped Abyss Heart's lips, her sword returning to its default form with the power it exuded vanishing. The reason for this, simple, as Vicious who had donned a new form, had appeared right before her and dug a fist right into her gut before she could even react. She didn't even see him move, something which boggled her mind as her eyes trembled violently. It had been all she could do to retain her consciousness let alone retain her Devil Trigger state. As she got set sliding backwards, having dug Chaoseater into the ground to stop herself from going flying, she waited till she had halted herself to look upwards…

Only to pale when she saw a dozen or so dark violet swords made from pure Demonic Energy, energy which crackled like Lightning over their forms, surrounding her.

'Uh oh!'

Abyss Heart cringed when she saw this, quickly ringing her weapon up and pumping Lightning into it once again, before she began to swing her massive blade in large, wide arcs. Her arm became a phantasmal image as she blurred around her position, having entered a slashing frenzy when the energy swords all came down upon her at once, intending to turn her into a literal Goddess/Demonic Hedgehog. Fortunately, she got the bright idea to use her wings as defensive tools to swat the blades away through a series of flapping motions. By the time that she managed to block and/or deflect them all…

A Katana blade had begun descending down towards her for a diagonal slash trough the torso.

CLANG!

Abyss Heart however, used the momentum of her onslaught to bring forth a reverse slash with Chaoseater, causing the two swords to collide together like two tectonic plates colliding in a violent manner. Around them, a massive dust cloud erupted beneath their feet, rushing outwards in all directions whilst the two causes for its creation, just stared each other down with killing intent coursing through their eyes.

Eventually though, the two broke away, allowing Abyss Heart to evaluate Vicious' new form at long last after she had halted her momentum. Upon looking at him, she saw that his entire form no longer resembled ANYTHING which could be considered human, him standing at the same height he had in human form. His colour scheme had changed as well, from all black to a mix of violet purple and black, his shoulder length greyish silver hair becoming a crest that has a fin-like shape at the top, his neck gaining a membrane that curved inwards, whilst the spine merged with two dark-coloured bones exposed at the top as well and his body physique became much barer. His coat split itself into four coattails that either functioned like his trench coat or open up to spread out. His feet had these clawed toenails and his body gained a violet purple, foggy aura. In addition, instead of being strapped to his waist, his Sheathe now had merged with his arm whilst his hands had become clawed appendages.

Still, one thing rose through her mind when beholding this form…

"This… This is…!"

If she hadn't seen him turn into this state before, Abyss Heart would have had a harder time comprehending what she saw in front of her. This form felt MASSIVELY different compared to his human one, and yet it did NOT feel like his DPU Form one bit. None of the divine feeling she would have gotten from him if this form had been it could be felt, making her realize that this wasn't Vicious' DPU Form. Instead, It felt more like some kind of brutish imitation, one not exactly inferior but one which functioned differently in comparison. By that, she meant his Energy reserves. The amount of energy she could sense roiling within Vicious' body right now… almost all of it had been infused into this form. Thus, he possessed a physical body much stronger than he possessed previously, she figured, much like her Dragonblood Form.

Vicious, seeing her state with his glowing violet eyes, would have smirked if his new form's mouth had the capacity to since it was a lipless one filled with sharp fangs. "To see my Sin Devil Trigger… you are VERY fortunate…" he muttered under his breath as he sheathed his Katana inside his arm Sheath. All the while, Abyss Heart quickly raised her sword for a Defensive stance, knowing that she would be in for a wild ride soon enough. His glowing eyes then narrowed darkly at her though, as the misty aura around him began to condense around his arms in preparation for his next attack. "However, It will be… THE LAST THING YOU WILL EVER SEE!"

"Hah, let me be the judge of that!"

CLANG!

With that, the two of them clashed once more, blade against blade in a ferocious, beastly duel to see who would emerge the victor.

CLASH! CLANG! BASH-BASH-BASH! SMASH! CRASH! CLASH! CLANG! BASH-BASH-BASH! SMASH! CRASH! CLASH! CLANG! BASH-BASH-BASH! SMASH! CRASH!

Donned in their demonic forms, both Abyss Heart and Vicious dominated the room they had begun their battle in, colliding rapidly in a flurry of blade slashes which would remain unseen by even their eyes. Neither of them broke eye contact, with sparks flying forth from their gazes whilst their blades repeatedly duked it out between them. Neither of them lost or gained any ground, despite their rapid movement throughout the battlefield. From circling one another like lions, sliding past one another to get at their rear flanks, the list of manoeuvres performed by these two went on and on. Not to mention, the more they fought, the more wounds they began to accumulate, wounds which spilled blood all over the floor which already had lines of blood running through it, thanks to Vicious' actions earlier.

After breaking away from Vicious ad another recent clash between their blades, Noire growled under her breath, her agitation of how little this fight seemed to be progressing shown with how her Demonic Aura flared about like a ferocious flame. She gathered up that agitation though and sent it right into Chaoseater, which almost seemed to howl with a bloodthirsty glow surrounding it. She then vanished in a burst of speed, appearing at Vicious' rear flank with a reverse slash poised to slice him in half, for the man to hop into the air to avoid it.

Not one to be out done, she quickly used the momentum to swing Chaosater around again for an overhead slash, one which Vicious countered by launching an aerial split kick. His clawed foot slammed into Chaoseater's blade, and as if she had hit a brick wall Abyss Heart saw her strike getting bounced back from its intended target, giving Vicious time to land on the ground and get into a quickdraw stance. Her eyes widened when she realized his intentions, and quickly strafed to the sides, avoiding a bunch of spatial slash attacks which would have cut right through her otherwise.

Ending up at his opposite side, Abyss Heart pumped energy into Chaoseater, causing it to become wreathed in a black and red energy which she swung towards Vicious. It didn't take the form of any element under her control, it was just pure energy, so it lacked the shape of the said elements, something Vicious realized as he adjusted his grip on his Katana and then reversed slashed upwards, completely splitting the attack in two before he brought it down to collide with the massive strike Chaoseater was used to launch right afterwards. The two blades pushed against one another there, with Abyss Heart placing her other hand on Chaoseater's backedge to apply more force to it, something which Vicious followed up with.

In a burst of strength, the demonic being got to his feet and pushed her back, hopping forth into a slash towards her waist, She countered that one by slashing from the opposite side, repeating the action when he followed up with a slash to her neck, a diagonal left to right slash, a diagonal right to left slash upwards, before Vicious entered a quickdraw stance then burst forwards in a mad display of speed. This caught Abyss Heart by surprise, but she managed to get Chaoseater in front of her defensively just a second before his strike hit, sending her flying backwards but with little damage.

'Grrr! If THAT's how he wants to play…!'

Anger fuelling her being right now, Abyss Heart dashed forwards, slashing Chaoseater towards Vicious' head which he deflected by angling the blade away with his Katana. The blade slammed into the ground beside him, whilst he swung upwards towards her face, intending to slide the upper portion clean off. However, Abyss Heart's eyes widened as she temporarily activated her ZANDATSU, ducking under the blade and twisting around a full 360 degrees.

This allowed Chaoseater to come back down again for an overhead slash, something which she smirked at until her ZANDATSU vanished at the last second, prompting Vicious to quickly vanish out of sight. After her blade smashed into the ground, Abyss Heart quickly twirled around to face the direction she sensed his killing intent, causing them to enter one more deadlock. The two fighters, upon seeing their situation, once again gritted their respective teeth as they pushed against one another, utterly determined to win the bout of strength between them… That is, until moments later when Abyss Heart reverse slashed to the side whilst side strafing and Vicious slashed downwards, revealing four pieces of a bat-like projectile having been tossed their way.

"Hm?!"

"That's?!"

Both competitors stared at the object for a moment, completely stunned that something had the gall to interrupt their battle Well, that would be what Vicious thought alongside the desire to rip apart the intruder who dared sneak attack against him, but when considering Abyss Heart's perspective... it would be a whole different ball game. She immediately figured out who the owner of that projectile had been, having seen it being used multiple times during their many battles together. Sounds of footsteps echoed as Abyss Heart glanced to the side, seeing the said companion known only as Lid stepping forth with a steely gaze on her.

"L-Lid?!"

She called out to her in surprise, disbelief and shock. Whilst deep down some relief that she had been alright after that sneak attack had separated them could be felt, Abyss Heart did NOT like the thought of Lid joining this particular battle. Whilst it seemed like her enemy had taken Lid's vengeance from her, she doubted that Lid would be able to last even a millisecond against this guy, not only was he a deity-like being just like her, but he had WAY more combat experience than her which meant he had to have killed numerous mortals in his time. Lid may have the empowerment of a Heroic Spirit at her side, but it wasn't that suited to straight-up battles like this.

However, it seemed as though Lid didn't even hear her, as the moment her eyes caught sight of Vicious, they seemed to practically REDDEN with absolute fury. Memories of her target's corpse, already killed by someone other than herself, filled her mind as she realized this being had to be the one who killed him. Aside from herself, her Goddess and him, only this guy could have done so. As such, fury exploded within her chest like a volcano having erupted, resulting in a loud war cry escaping her lips as she took out her Combat knife, vanishing right afterwards.

Vicious glanced downwards where he sensed her killing intent, this motion allowing him to see her appear there on all fours with her knife held in a reverse grip. She quickly sashed upwards, intending to cleave him in two had Vicious not reacted in time by raising his Katana so the bottom of its hilt caught the blade before it reached its target. Lid's eyes widened at this, but she didn't stop her assault as she got up into a rising front kick, one which he hopped back to avoid, which she followed up by hopping into the air after him. Twisting like a spiralling sausage, Lid aimed a downward slash towards him, switching the hand her knife was held in after it got parried and swinging once more but horizontally this time. Of course, this also got blocked, but this time the two got put into a deadlock much like the one which happened before, her knife contesting against Vicious' Katana.

Didn't stop her fury any, though.

"You... you BASTARD! I'll fucking kill you!"

"This fierceness, this attitude…. ahhh, I see... revenge, is it not? Foolish mortal..."

In contrast to her furious gaze, Vicious's remained completely calm, level and composed, having quickly figured out her intentions using his past experiences against mortals who had similar expressions when trying to kill him. The demonic being then pushed his arms forward, knocking her back before several dozen swords from his energy manifested around him, about 30 or so. Lid, upon seeing them, quickly realized his intentions and got into a combat stance before the Swords shot themselves forth to impale her. She slashed several times for the first 5, then switched to a thrusting grip to destroy the following 6, resulting in 11 Swords being destroyed. Afterwards, she began to flip, spin and twirl about like she had entered a dance routine to expertly avoid the rest of them...

Until she noticed Vicious already dashing at her in a quickdraw stance.

'Shit! Gotta-!'

Lid quickly made to strike at him, but before she could a certain Chaoseater slammed into the space between them, forcing both of the competitors to separate. Lid, upon seeing it, glanced to the side to see Abyss Heart there, having stopped the attack from happening and thus by extension, saved her life. "Lady Noire..." she muttered, her tone indicating that she just NOW noticed her presence. Momentarily, her eyes snapped out of her furious daze, allowing this to become possible.

"Lid, you have to step back! He's too dangerous for you!" Abyss Heart urged, causing the Spec Ops Agent to let out a light gasp in shock. Step back? When the target of her ire was right in front of her? Was she SERIOUSLY asking her that? "I know you're angry, but this guy's too tough for you, even with-"

"Be silent, and continue."

Before she could finish her sentence, Vicious suddenly spoke in a cold, dark manner, drawing attention to him. This allowed the two maidens to noticed that he had crouched into his quickdraw stance, and upon noticing this Abyss Heart quickly went wide eyed. In a burst of speed, she flew towards Lid and grabbed her by the shoulder, taking flight into the air afterwards and managing to avoid the following spatial slashes just in time. However, this turned out to not be completelyaccurate, as one such slash managed to nick her in her inner calve, causing Abyss Heart to cringe as blood splattered forth from the wound over the ground.

Upon her halting, Abyss Heart crouched as she put her hand over the wound, whilst Lid landed beside her in a shocked daze. She quickly shook her head to clear the cobwebs however, and looked to her companion to see her current condition. "Lady Noire...!" she exclaimed, before glaring heatedly at Vicious who had already began charging for the kill. 'Shit, there's no time to argue! Act fast!' Quickly before he could close the distance, she reacted by pulling out a healing item from her Inventory, a Healing Drink actually, before she passed it along to the demonized CPU before she launched a couple dozen Bat projectiles her opponent's way.

At this, Vicious slashed through each of the projectiles with expert finesse, as if he were slashing oversized boulders trying to crush him. However, this did do its job of distracting him long enough for Abyss Heart to take the Healing Drink and gulp it down in one go. Afterwards, her wounds healed to a point where they would not obstruct her whilst fighting, prompting Abyss Heart to look up and notice how Vicious had already knocked Lid back and had commenced an offensive on her. Much to her horror, she saw how he had not held back his strength in the slightest, striking her viciously and ruthlessly to a point where Lid had been forced into a tight spot, cornered like a weak rabbit. Every time she tried to escape to strike back at any blind spots, Vicious would change his striking direction and keep her in one place, trapping her with him. Odds were, that she wouldn't be able to even activate any of her Noble Phantasms in this state either, since the moment she tried she would likely get herself chopped into ribbons.

All this passed through Abyss Hearts mind in a second as she made to assist...

When suddenly she powered, down, returning to her human form in a flash of Light. "Wh-Wha?!"

Glancing over to his other opponent, Vicious smirked darkly as he commented on the change. "Your Devil's run dry, weakling..." he mumbled, before swinging in a reverse horizontal angle and swatting Lid aside, causing her to gasp as she fell to the ground, rolling several times before coming to a halt. By the time she managed to get up, Vicious had already generated more energy swords from above her, swords which struck her dead on and pinned her straight onto the floor. "Stay there and watch, weak mortal..."

"Gah!"

"Lid!" Noire called out, having to refer to herself as her original name thanks to having betook down to her human form. This wasn't good, because of Lid's addition this battle had NOT gone the way the blackette had wanted. Not only did she now have to look out for someone whilst fighting this unbelievably powerful opponent, but she also had lost the aid of her Devil Trigger and her Demonic Powers as an extension. Quicksilver, Demonic Energy Manipulation, Chaoseater, none of the Demonic aspect of her Skills would be available to her now. She would have tried to assume her Dragonblood Form, the only other form she would have had available to her, but the moment Vicious shifted his focus on her all she could have done would have been to summon Balmung and Ashbringer, the latter appearing on her back, to hold off the assault. She DID manage to somehow get some time to summon her Nevular as well, allowing her to dual wield against this guy instead.

As such, the two charged at one another, engaging in one more slash fest.

SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-!

Sounds of metal slamming against metal rung out as the two duked it out, stepping around each other and sometimes sliding behind each other to get at each other's blind spots. However, there would be one difference compared to the previous times they had engaged in these clashes, and that would be that, thanks to the differences in speed, both parties managed to wound one another several times throughout the slashing fest, Noire being wounded more so than her opponent. Bloody gashes adorned her body by the dozens, most of them being relatively small but significantly deep. Since she hadn't been able to assume her Dragonblood Form either, she could only defend against so many as she fell onto one knee post separating from Vicious. Immediately afterwards, she began repeatedly activating LIGHT FLASH to help her body heal from its injuries whilst lifting her head to glare at her opponent.

Said opponent looked like he wasn't in much better shape than her, actually. If her body was littered with wounds that were small but deep, then his body had long ones which were rather shallow, with his Demonic Aura flaring weakly around him. No longer was he in his 'Sin Devil Trigger' mode, although Noire had no idea why he called it that instead of just referring tot hat form as the Devil Trigger, it certainly didn't seem so different compared to hers. His coat looked to have been shredded in multiple places, with one of its Coat Tails missing along with a sleeve and part of his collar. Blood ran down the side of his head whilst he hung it low, letting his hair shadow his eyes... though not the gritting of his teeth, likely in frustration. Not only that, but it also seemed that he kneeled with his Katana impaling the ground in front of him, with his hands on top of its rear end whilst he battled to regain his strength.

For a moment, silence reined...

Until...

CLAP-CLAP-CLAP-CLAP-CLAP-CLAP-CLAP-CLAP-CLAP-CLAP-CLAP-!

"Bravo, bravo!"

The sound of clapping resonated through the room, catching all three of the fighters by surprise as they looked towards the direction which the clapping came from. What the hell had jut happened there, when did someone get in here and why didn't they notice before? That thought crossed the trio's minds at once, invoking their own individual emotions on top of it. None of the trio had even SENSED anyone nearby let alone someone closing in on them! For Lid, whom didn't show how much fatigue her body had been wrecked under thanks to fighting her way to this place, she couldn't help but be dismayed at her sloppy decrease in efficiency. For Noire, she could only growl in self-admonishment, while Vicious scowled in the direction of the clapping whilst aiming a glare which, in terms of venom, could have killed even one of his own kind. "You..."

"Yup, its-a-meeeeee!" From the walls a black portal suddenly manifested from it, spiralling inwards like a whirlpool, came a purple joker-esque foot, then came a second one until a certain demonic Clown stepped out onto the scene. He looked just as maniacal as ever with that shit eating grin on his face as he energetically waved at them like a little toddler waving towards his or her returning parents. "Your good ol' pal, Jester! Oh, has anybody missed me or have they missed meeeeee…!" he proclaimed, laughing afterwards though he soon continued without letting anyone respond. "Anyways, whew, that was a doozy, but who knew that this would all be pulled off so splendidly!"

Annoyance filled her throat and escaped in the form of a growl, as Noire struggled to get to her feet. "What the... heck are you talking... about, you stupid clown...?" the blackette questioned with a heavy edge to her tone. She may not have encountered THIS particular annoyance, but he gave her the impression of someone even worse than Neptune. To the point where their few meetings nearly caused her to try and bang her head against any hard surface to knock herself out so she didn't have to listen to that IRRITATING babbling. He even made her prefer NEPTUNE of all people to his kind of crazy.

Instead of answering though, Jester instead turned his creepy gaze and crazy grin towards Lid, whom had already stood up from her previous position (the swords impaling her had vanished at this point) to try and aim a newly summoned rocket launcher towards him, thinking him an enemy. Her certainly seemed like he wanted to intrude on this fight of theirs. However, before she could pull the weapon's trigger, Jester instantly teleported in front of her, much to her surprise (as well as Noire and Vicious') and lightly grasped the weapon with his finger tips. Lid tried to pull her weapon out... but to her shock, she couldn't move it one bit. "Wha?!"

"Don't be a BAD girl, Liddie…!"

Jester sneered at her with those words, before he lifted her into the air and over his head in some form of overhead throw. Lid gasped when she hit the ground back first, her lower half raised upwards before it fell tot he ground as well. Groans of pain followed suit from the sharp intake of breath she did, all the while Jester stabbed the Rocket Launcher into the ground by its Bayonette, holding it in one hand whilst making a spanking motion. "Or you can expect a spanking from daddy later. Jester's going to spank your butt. Spank you in the but-!"

"Silence!"

"Haaaaauuuuuuh?"

Turning his head to look at the one who just yelled at him, ruining his little song, Jester saw Vicious having gotten to his feet. His eyes blazed with annoyance and fury, as he held his Katana in a thrusting position towards him. "I do not know where you hail... but here is NOT that place..." he stated coldly, not liking the fact that ANOTHER obstacle had stepped in his path of his goal. No matter what though, his solution would remain the same, once he got rid of this pest, the rest would follow. "Now LEAVE!"

With that, Vicious charged forth at a high rate of speed, blurring across the room for a quick decapitation...

SWING!

CLAP!

"?!"

Just as his swing was made however, Vicious's eyes shrunk in even greater fury, when Jester placed his palms together and caught his moving Katana between them, abruptly stopping it in place whilst holding it there effortlessly. Several times he tried tugging the weapon out, even outright yanking it, however the blade wouldn't budge from the Clown Demon's grasp.

"Zowie, that was close!" Jester quipped, cackling as he pulled the two of them closer by pulling on the Katana. As a result, the two of them had a few inches space between their faces whilst Jester kept the blade close to his right shoulder. His pink lips widened as he aimed a mocking sneer towards the other man, mixed in with that demented grin he sported as well. "But you have taken quite a trouncing today, haven't you, Vicious?" he questioned, saying his name in a slow, drawn out manner as if to insult it... which would likely be true in this case. "You could have just chopped me into confetti by now, if you were in tip-top condition...!" he proclaimed, almost as if chastising him like a parent scolding a child at the end there. But he wasn't done just yet, not until he spoke some more. "But then again, I guess you were NEVER in your prime shape since this whole ordeal started, were you?"

"D-Damn you!"

Vicious, upon hearing those words, looked like he would become a living flame at ay moment, such would be the wild, almost berserker-like, rage that he exuded at this very moment. To reflect his emotions, the Demonic Aura he had healing his wounds, albeit at a slower rate than normal, swayed about wildly like a ferocious storm. It was far weaker than it should have been though, even weaker than in the beginning of this battle actually, due to having been used so extensively throughout. Leaning forwards a little more yet again though, Jester suddenly spoke... in a much deeper, composed yet oh so FAMILIAR voice, one which made Vicious' face contort to one of shocked silence instead. "You have lost."

His shock got so great, that Jester immediately took advantage of it to kick him in the gut with a Demonic Power enhanced kick, sending him sprawling across the room until he landed on his back. Upon his halting of his movement, Vicious looked up to where Jester had been... only to widen his eyes once again when he noticed that instead of the psychotic clown, there stood the composed Scholar known as Arkham, flaming scar and ever creepy stare in all. "... Because you underestimated humans..."

Whilst Vicious laid there stunned at what had happened just now, like he had just seen a ghost, he wasn't the only one who looked absolutely stupefied. From her prone position, Lid lifted herself upwards so she could look at the man whom she had thought dead, the uncle whom she had been trying to kill all this time but never succeeded. Her mind couldn't even process this quick enough like it normally would, shock and confusion dominated it instead which caused her to question him in a breathless manner. "...What the heck is going on...?"

Slowly, Arkham turned his head to look at her, his neck cracking several times during the manoeuvre which caused the girls to feel chills crawl down their spines. "Good Girl... plays the Soldier part, yet at her core, she is pure and innocent... Just like her mother." Just after saying that, he saw Lid regain her fury as she made to pull out an item from her Inventory, most likely a ranged weapon he sensed, but Arkham didn't allow that. Instead, he teleported over to her, having his form change into the Jester persona he had, and grasped her by the head with his clawed right hand. Pulling her head back whilst gripping it with an iron like vice, Jester grinned at the pained expression she sported whilst talking like an excited little kid. "Its time for your spanking, my dear!"

With that said, Jester raised her head till se looked like a backwards 'L' in shape, before...

BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-!

… Repeatedly slamming her head into the ground with the force of a brick falling on top of someone.

"STOP IT, YOU BASTARD! LET HER GO!"

Upon hearing the shout from Noire, whom had already started to get up to her feet although her wounds were still healing thanks to Ashbringer, Jester smirked knowingly in her direction, holding up his free hand and generating a basket-ball sized sphere of purple demonic Power. Upon lightly thrusting his arm forward, the ball shot through the air like a bullet, slamming into Noire's gut and causing her to cry out in pain, sending her flying. She of course, landed bac first on the ground, pained groans escaping her lips as the Demonic Power coursed through her body, acting lie poison to her system and weakening her as a result. Although, unlike before she had several things within her which helped fight it off, it would take a bit of time to properly expel it. As Jester had expected from the CPU of Lastation.

Turning back to Vicious whom also had started to get to his feet again, Jester giggled like a schoolgirl as he spoke once more mockingly. "You want to know why the spell didn't break, hmm Vicious?" Roughly releasing the dazed, barely conscious Lid's noggin, Jester stood up and crouched whilst stalking closer to him. "You have the two amulets, plus the demonic blood of a Demon Patron Unit, not to mention you have the mental fortitude required to be its master... but you lack one KEY little item."

BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-!

Before he could continue, a shower of bullets fell onto him, curtesy of a weakened Noire whom had pulled out her Luce and Ombra handguns to fire onto him with. Her attempt though, just made the clown Demon even more elated like a drug addict on an overdose. "Hahahahaha, splendid, for a CPU to resist the sweet embrace of oblivion...! But you are wounded and weak!" The Demoon proclaimed, dancing through the bullets before he hopped onto the ceiling aboe them, sticking to it like glue. "I can even do..." taking a pause, Jester let himself fall towards Noire's position, slamming both feet onto her face after deflecting her bullets with Demonic Energy. "THIS to you, ahahahaha!" He yelled, throwing his arms out like an actor at the end of his performance.

It didn't last long though, for he soon shifted back into his human Arkham persona, all the while striding calmly towards the rocket launcher which Lid had dropped. "Two Amulets... a portion of blood from a powerful DPU... Now, all that is missing is one final key." he explained, stopping before the rocket launcher and bending down to pick it up. He then continued whilst walking over to the fallen Spec Ops Agent. "Back in the DPU Era, the DPU known simply as Hojo, the previous master of the Temen-Ni-Gru, sacrificed multiple things to seal it away once he used it to escape this world. He sacrificed a portion of power he 'borrowed' from a certain someone..." Stopping before the downed silver haired woman, Arkham raised the Rocket Launcher up high as if performing a sacrificial ritual, pointing the bayonette down at Lid with a merciless glint in his eye. "And the blood of a mortal, one who held extreme faith in the original Goddess, Odyssey Heart. THAT is where you come in, my dear. I needed YOU, whose body flows the same BLOOD as that of the sacrificed woman. His spell cannot be undone without YOUR blood!"

STAB!

"GAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

Once he made that proclamation, Arkham stabbed the Rocket Launcher's Bayonette right into Lid's right thigh, causing her to scream out into the surroundings. Blood pooled from the wound, spilling out across the platform they stood on, however aside from the screaming Lid, Vicious and Noire found themselves sensing something else... something beginning to stir. However, this didn't last in their minds for long, and it vanished seconds later.

"It was QUITE a ride, you know?!" Jester once again took over Arkham's form, yanking the weapon out of Lid's thigh whilst holding onto it. "One demon vs One lousy excuse for a Goddess, and one weakling mortal. Talk about a DELICATE recipe! If any of you died before getting here, our little plan was to go to waste! Therefore, that's where the Goddess comes in, her job being to WEAKEN everyone and in turn herself, but at the same time, I had to guide you all here and make sure you were kept alive." The man explained like one of those trashy cliché game villains thinking that they had won everything so they felt the right to brag. "I even went so far as to A: hire that damned Spirit, and B: dress like a complete IDIOT! hahahahahaha!"

A short, mad bout of laughter escaped the Clown Demon whilst everyone else struggled to recover from their current conditions. Once it passed though, Jester looked down towards the groaning Lid, the pain she found herself under being the sole thing keeping her conscious. "Now then... time for bed, Liddie… You can visit your dear mother and father. AAAAAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA-WHOA?!"

In that moment, the Demon had been so sure of his victory, he didn't expect Lid to suddenly regain her clarity and, with a furious flourish, unleashed a Helicopter kick which helped her knock him off balance. Not to mention it disarmed him of her weapon and allowed her to grasp it from the air itself, before pointing it at her so-called 'Uncle'. Her eyes narrowed into a deadly killer gaze, one not unlike a composed professional Slasher would pull off. "Try me, bitch."

"Ooooh nice use of the meme there, lassie-!"

Jester cackled as he spoke that, recognizing a famous meme on the internet until the presence of several blades, one Katana and one Balmung, placed themselves on either shoulder. Glancing around, he saw how both Vicious and Noire had managed to get to him during his mad laughing phase and direct their weapons to said places, looks of stone-coldness present on their faces... yet their eyes held a passionate, blazing flame to them that showed how they REALLY felt deep inside.

Instead of Noire speaking though, it turned out to be Vicious instead, as his gaze looked like that of a madman about to go on a blood rage. "Its time... for the CLOWN... to bow out, don't you think?"

"Not before I wring his sorry little neck for wat he's done to my people..." Noire hotly stated afterwards, already preparing to assume her Dragonblood Form at any moment she saw a sign of aggression.

…

…

…

…

For a moment, silence reigned supreme as the four stared each other down, Jester switching over to Arkham again. Now that they could have a proper look at the transformation, there wasn't really any kind of special effects which followed it or served as any indication. Instead all it looked like was a simple mirage vanishing out of existence. It more than proved to them that the man known as Arkham and the Clown Jester were one in the same, perhaps the transformation into a Demon had side effects which resulted in the Jester Persona. That was what the trio felt anyways as they stared the Scholar down, said scholar not even showing the SLIGHTEST bit of intimidation upon eyeing their respective weapons.

"...Impressive. I expected nothing less from you three." Arkham mused, eyeing each of them individually. The way his eyes oved allowed them to see the entirety of the eyeballs shifting about, yet none of them let that bother them right now. In any other circumstance, it would have proven too unnerving for them not to react to it, but in current times they just had too much rage in them to care. "But, aren't you three forgetting something, Vicious especially? The spell has been broken, what do you think will happen next?" Upon saying those words, Arkham eyed the indent at the centre of the room, one which trembled as it rosse upwards, revealing itself to be more of a cylindrical shape, an altar one might call it.

When it stopped rising, Arkham spoke three simple words... before EVERYTHING went to shit.

"Lets welcome... CHAOS!"

Rumbling sounds filled the air as the entire Tower seemed to bristle, shaking violently as if under the influence of a powerful earthquake. Up above them, the ceiling seemed to open up in a circulatory manner as if parting for something to come through whilst the platform they stood on abruptly started ascending upwards, yet this didn't fully register in their minds since the sudden trembling caught each of the trio off guard. To the point where Arkham, seeing his chance, took advantage of their unbalanced states to slip out of their little trapping formation. Ironically, each weapon got swing at that time, but only connected with each other instead of their intended fleshy target. Down on the ground, Arkham performed a 360 degree sweep kick, knocking the trio off their feet before continuing the spin for a second time, kicking Vicious, Noire and finally Lid off the platform. Add in the fact that he planted all of his Demonic Power into that kick, and each of them TRULY suffered a devastating blow.

Down below, Lid and Noire crashed onto what little ground remained from the platform's rising,, though they had no idea what had happened to Vicious right now, not like they cared very much. Arkham had priority within their mind's at this current moment as each of them struggled to get to their feet, looking up with hatred at the rising platform. Noire tried to assume her Dragonblood Form again, but unfortunately for her the moment she tried to do so her body EXPLODED with unimaginable agony, agony which felt like... like the time when she had that item sucking out her soul! 'What?! Why can't I transform?! Siegfried, what's wrong here?!'

_… This is most troubling, I fear the worst has come to past at the worst possible timing. it seems you cannot transform anymore, for it seems Ashbringer's negative reaction to them has surpassed the limits of your body. It doesn't help that your body has been significantly damaged by Jester, with your Demonic Power reserves near completely depleted. Right now, your body is refusing to take other forms as a defence mechanism, for if they change forms once more, the damage Ashbringer shall do with the reaction will be too severe... and you will perish... _

'... Are you freaking KIDDING ME?!'

Great, so she couldn't access her other forms because Ashbringer didn't LIKE them?! While she had experience in the occurrence of it reacting badly to the other forms and causing her immense pain, she didn't think it could escalate to something of THIS degree! Siegfried was right, this had to be the WORST possible timing for her to lose access to all those powers!

Meanwhile, back atop the rising platform, Arkham stood by it's edge whilst looking down on them like a human would an ant. His eyes showed nothing but inhuman mockery as he sneered down at them. At last, at last he had come this far and trounced every other possible competition. He guessed it was true what they say, patience came to those who wait, and right now this clown would have the last laugh in this little game of theirs. "Just you wait... Wait for the birth of a NEW GOD! I shall take over... the power of a DPU! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"


	30. Chapter 30 - Temen-Ni-Gru's activation

**Chapter 30 - Temen-Ni-Gru's activation**

The constant rumbling as the platform gradually ascended up the Temen-Ni-Gru filled Arkham's ears as he stood near the centre, looking upwards towards the top. If anyone were to look at him right now, they would see a man of almost perfect composure, almost being the right word as the flame-like burn on his face contorting madly revealed what he felt TRULY deep inside. His eyes shined with deep, perverse desire, almost like the flames which the other DPU (he'd long since forgotten about him at this point, since he was no longer useful). His lips kept pursed in a firm line as his imagination ran wild with ideas and thoughts pertaining to how he would become a new God, a new DPU instead of just a mere incomplete Demon like he was currently.

If he were to think about it, the platform rising with only himself on it would be kind of symbolic in a way. After all, the platform rising would signify how he trusted absolutely nobody with his true goals and intentions in mind, until the very end where it would have been too late for them and he would have thrown them aside to achieve his goals. The shattering of some rubble which fell down the wayside perfectly encapsulated this as well, something which he would have sneered mockingly at if he even acknowledged this at all. But instead, like this constantly rising platform, Arkham's gaze remained upwards to the very top, where his goal lay waiting for him.

Right now, the platform her broken through the ground floor one would find themselves in when entering the Tower through the chamber Cerberus had once guarded. Yet Arkham didn't notice this, nor anything else.

A Long time…

He had waited for SUCH a long time for this…

How he had DREAMED of this day, of the day when he would be able to shed his mortal coil and bask in the glory of pure invincibility. Being a DPU had been all he had ever wanted in life, from the moment he first heard of the from his now deceased father, whom had been a researcher who'd stumbled across a Devil Arm for the first time. However. That man had proven himself unworthy of such power, and as such the Devil Arm took control of him, ending his life by erasing his very SOUL from existence. Arkham had been the only one of his village to have survived the massacre, the incident being treated as just another abnormal attack…

And it had been GLORIOUS.

Such power… such STRENGTH and SKILL he'd seen from the creature that had once been his father once he became a literal Devil until his demise by the hands of a bunch of powerful Spec Ops Agents. It had been magnificent, the show of power taught Arkham one thing, one very important, absolute lesson which he carried to this day: that those who had power and commanded brutality in its purest form would be the ones others would listen to. Any who tried to take that power from its rightful owner should have zero mercy dealt onto them without mistake. Even his so-called 'Wife' would not be any exception, she had been the first one he had sacrificed on his path to obtaining demonic Immortality, since she had discovered his plans early on and tried to warn the authorities. Luckily, he had silenced and sacrificed her in time, with his few connections with the higher ups in Lastation's government cleaning any 'mess' she had left behind.

Nothing would stop him from achieving his goal… not family, not friends, NOTHING.

He would become an immortal GOD!

Arkham would ascend into a DPU no matter the cost! No price would be too great to pay!

Whilst the platform ascended, the statures along the spiralling staircase being placed onto the Platform itself, Arkham considered the Goddess whom had tried to stop him and let out a scornful scoff. From the moment he had first heard of them, did Arkham not see them as true deities, he didn't believe in them from the very start. Instead, he didn't put them in any kind of high standing whatsoever, keeping this opinion to himself lest he be put under the Basilicom's radar. The so-called Goddesses were noting but a sham to him, nothing but squabbling brats who had no idea about how the world truly worked. If this had been a den of wolves in a literal sense, then they'd have been weak pups who would have been eaten shortly afterwards by their superiors.

Once he got his hands on his ultimate goal, Arkham would travel through this plague-filled world and RID it of these pathetic weaklings, Goddess and Non-Goddess alike. He was no fool, he knew there were Goddesses other than the main four, and not all of them formed from faith from humans, Instead it could be from anything, from plants, animals, to even Abnormals. Practically anything could form a Goddess to be protected from in this world, and each Goddess would have their own abilities based off their origins. That meant Arkham would have quite the task ahead of him, but it wouldn't be ANYTHING like ascending into DPU territory. He already had plans to hide himself in the Demon World, with items on his person which would cloak his presence from the Demons inhabiting it until he ascended into a DPU.

Yes… the time was close now, oh so close.

By the time that the platform reached the top, Arkham found himself standing at the centre surrounded by a full circle of statues, each one positioned under the 'claw' like constructs which had protruded out of the tower's peak. Down below, he could sense how the tower's structure had shifted with the platform's rising, making it so that navigating through the structure would NOT be as easy as it had been before. Instead, all Arkham would have to do would be to wait… and even then, he didn't have to wait very long.

For about 4 minutes later, did the constructs protruding out of the peak start to react. They began to shift, grumbling sounds emitting from them whilst each of them moved in unison, lowering themselves down onto the statues. Several clanking sounds escaped them as they connected to one another, rising soon afterwards with the statues in tow, almost like they were bells in a bell tower. Whilst this happened, the skies above the tower slowly turned into that of a storm, with many clouds turning everything into darkness to the point where not even the morning sun would be able to illuminate the day this time.

All the while, Arkham just stood there, watching whilst he began to monologue as the altar behind him slowly receded into the platform. "He plucks the threads that make us dance, finger and toe. We surrender in joy to the lowest of the foul and rank: We submerge through darkness and rancid filth." Whilst he said all this as if it were a mantra or a poem he had read, the constructs holding the makeshift 'Bells' began to ascend upwards, taking the statues with them. Arkham paid this no heed as he continued. "Hour by hour, we move downward, closer to hell, in a slow, steady gait."

After saying that last part, each of the statues now fully looked like bells, aligned in a rising and falling circle around the scholarly man who stayed at the centre. He slowly raised his head to the skies above, spreading his arms out as if to receive something… or to present something to something else. "Now, let the world resonate! Sloth! Gluttony! Greed! Envy! Lust! Wrath! And Pride!" Upon calling out those words, the seven cardinal sins which governed humanity's desires, the makeshift bels began to ring on their own, making an inaudible sound echo from within them, them, the likes which lacked any kind of unity, order or pleasantry. "A bell of Chaos which tolls human desires! After 30 long millennia, the once sealed Demonic Gate… to the Demon World of Slaanesh… will OPEN!"

The clouds gathering together above the tower increased their circulation speed more and more, almost looking like a violent whirlpool, sounds of chaotic rumbling echoing throughout them whilst Arkham took note of the glowing crimson centre of the Platform. He held back the urge to grin, knowing that the time would be close at hand. The glow gradually got brighter and brighter, forming a ring around where he stood whilst Demonic Energy surged throughout the air. "DESTRUCTION! CARNAGE AND DESPAIR! LET YOUR INSTINCTS DRIVE YOU! ENTRAP THIS WORLD IN FEAR! AS ITS NAME, TEMEN-NI-GRU, STRIKES FEAR INTO THE HEART OF MANKIND!"

Down below, despite them being under the influence of the sleeping spell his no-good Servant had placed upon them, every human within the entire city began to shiver and tremble, sweat rolling down their faces as terror struck their very beings. It was as if they instinctively knew that something utterly mortifying had happened, that their once safety-filled solitude had now come to an end and they had been tossed helplessly into a bowl to be blended together into bloody paste.

Up above, the centre had formed into a large hole in the skies, one which showed a scenery far unlike that of any kind Gamindustri looked to be used to. A shrill, crimson and purple light emitted from the hole as dozens of creatures, both Blood Gargoyles as well as the creatures which, unbeknownst to Arkham, Nico had fought back in Skies End but under the influence of Chaos God Slaanesh, spiralled downwards towards the tip of the Tower. Arkham paid no heed to this either, only caring about finishing his speech as he felt the Demonic Power from the Demon World converging on him, grasping at his being to pull him inside. "THEN I WILL BECOME THE UTIMATE RULER OF THIS WORLD ENGULFED IN PANDEMONIUM! THE DEMONIC POWER THAT WHICH COMES FROM A DPU… WHICH WILL MAKE A DPU… WILL BE MIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

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… Now, it took a LOT to truly piss Noire off. She would most certainly call herself someone who kept her composure quite a bit, even though she'd recently been going through a LOT of annoying bullcrap. However, none of it managed to piss her off truly in every sense of the word. She had to have extreme patience, since as a leader she would have to deal with incompetent soldiers, politicians who would search for any opening they could to get a rise out of her and shame her public image, all sorts of idiots came flocking over to her door. As such, Noire had to make sure to keep her cool in those situations, and it helped that many of her staff weren't so incompetent that they would have to be lectured like a parent scolding a child. Lastation's motto of being only able to do everything would have been at risk if they were otherwise.

However, lets summarize the following events which had happened up to this point, shall we? First, Noire had been minding her own business, about to call it a day when all this shit first began. The start of it came in the form of her being ambushed right in the middle of her own OFFICE by a bunch of Demons which came from shattered space itself, just after she had received an uninvited guest late at night at the same time. That only followed up with one of her own citizens being ruthlessly butchered by Demons before she could arrive to save her, resulting in a brutal, agonizing death for her without anyone there to help her or ensure her that any relatives she would have had would be okay. That failure still clung to her even now, as a matter of fact. This then culminated in the fact that a literal giant demonic hell tower had manifested within her own precious Lastation, intending to open a portal to a world which would inevitably doom all of her subjects, whom had been placed under a blissful, ignorant sleeping spell.

Second, Noire finally, FINALLY had the chance to have her rematch with Vicious, the DPU which had defeated her up atop the Temen-Ni-Gru without breaking much of a sweat, their battle having sent damage across the entire Lastation Continent. She had been waiting for that for a LONG time, a very long time to be precise. Back when she had been defeated the first time, she had been hard pressed to find something which could stack up to how humiliated she had felt from that defeat. Not to mention that she o longer had the ability to transform into her HDD Form to help her vent. She had to rely on the power of a Dragon, a power she wasn't nearly as used to as her HDD Self Black Heart to survive and escape the fate of being digested alive by a giant leviathan. She even had to fight against a champion of Slaanesh, one of the most disgusting beings she had ever faced so far, as well as a powerful Heroic Spirit. It had shown her just how dangerous DPUs were, and that even the weakest versions of them could very well smack her down. Forget Mundus, even the WEAKEST of their kind could rip her a new one, as well as the other CPUs. THAT revelation had torn apart her pride as a Warrior, Leader and as a Goddess.

How could she embody her motto if she kept suffering these defeats against these deities?

Then, the cherry on the cake on top of constantly fighting for her life against hoards of Demons, growing stronger and stronger all the while yet enduring countless stress-inducing situations. The fact that this entire time, throughout her ENTIRE journey, she had been MANIPULATED, conned, screwed over in the worst way possible whatever one would like to refer to it as, by a simple Human turned Demon who apparently had a God complex like a lot of humans she knew had. That said being had used her like a cheap toy alongside her enemy and sole companion, to not only weaken each other but also to fully activate the Satanic Treasure known as the Temen-Ni-Gru to open the portal to its connected Demon World, all to try and gain some sort of 'Power' at the cost of practically every citizen under her. Worse still, was that she had FALLEN for such a ploy, a ploy which had also unintentionally reduced her to a fraction of her full strength thanks to her Demonic Powers being unusable right now and Ashbringer acting up thanks to constantly using her various powers.

So, yeah… Noire had AMPLE reason to be pissed off right about now and pull a berserker moment.

Currently, the blackette sat on hr backside alongside Lid, whom had still been recovering from the Demonic Energy enhanced kick she had been dealt with by Arkham. Noire herself had managed to lift her sorry ass into a sitting position from where she had fallen from the platform which currently had kept on rising. To the point where she could no longer even see the bastard whom had made all of this possible through his plan. The fact that he had mentioned Geronimo, albeit indirectly, had sort of registered in her mind but also not at the same time since she was too busy ranting violently inside her own mind. She would have tried to smash the ground as well with a fist arrange similar to those flamboyant manly men she'd seen on that multi-part, cultural influence of an anime, but before she had managed to do so…

_… __Noire, venting like this is pointless, it doesn't change the situation any except damage your body further. Take deep breaths, and regain your judgement. Only then will you be fit to approach this situation in a timely manner…_

A rather sudden, unexpected intervention from Siegfried forcefully yanked Noire out of her rage-filled stupor, causing her eyes to widen as her clarity sharply returned. THAT had surprised her, she practically found herself caught off guard by the sudden speech her Heroic Spirit Partner had given her just now. Still, what he had said made sense, it wouldn't do for her to rant about things now, not when she had a job to do and things were still threatening Lastation. Pointlessly ranting about it wouldn't matter, and it wasn't like things would get any better through mindless yelling anyways. With that in mind, Noire began the arduous task of calming down her burning fury. She groaned whilst placing a hand on her shaking head, taking deep breaths until her rage dimmed from a brilliantly blazing flame to a calm, composed blue flame.

Rage… it wasn't necessarily an evil tool. It may not be rational, it may be indiscriminate in its targets if given enough intensity, but it in itself could be a special power. Noire felt this to be true, since she had seen proof of such a statement in her companions. One such person she knew who utilized rage as a weapon was Lowee's CPU, though in Noire's opinion that brat tended to go on rampages more often than not due to her short temper or… whenever anyone comments negatively about her chest size. Most commonly that person tended to be Vert, due to… two specific reasons which she paraded about with absolute pride over. I essence, her point was that rage could be a great tool to exercise her wrathful intent on an enemy as long as she didn't let it consume her and make her go overboard.

A moment or two later, Noire felt herself calm enough to make rational judgements, so with that in mind she asked Siegfried to help her list the powers that she had access to still and the ones which didn't. The goal of which was to ascertain her boundaries and limits, since with her body's current condition she wouldn't be able to exude NEARLY as much power as she had before, it would be fundamentally impossible for her. It took both of them a fair amount of time to discuss this, debating on the pros and cons of what could be used whilst the powers which WEREN'T usable got solved much quicker in comparison. In the end, she managed to form a list of what she COULD still use first:

Head Spirit Bone – Soul Defence

Nevular – Lightning Associated Techniques included + Bats (She can't believe she forgot about utilizing them back there)

Balmung – TWILIGHT WAVE included + plus Power mastery had risen up to 65%. Apparently, she was close to a second Bottleneck in its development, and one which would be much more crucial to her power set according to Siegfried (Rik even agreed, albeit reluctantly).

Luce/Ombra - Only these two as her gun knowledge was limited.

There, those were the abilities Noire had access to… not a lot. As for the rest of her abilities, like previously mentioned she couldn't use them at all due to them now possessing some form of backlash which would cause her to suffer at this point. According to Siegfried, each ability had varying levels of backlash which would reflect onto not just her body, but also her very SOUL as well. Considering the last Soul-related incident she had had happen to her would have been that time with the sphere after repelling that Beowulf Demon, she did NOT want to go through that kind of pain again if she could help it. As such, the previous list had been what she could safely, properly use without any drawbacks.

Now that she thought about it this way, it made her feel sort of similar to how Vert must have felt that time she had lost her powers and had become a mortal woman. Although their situations were somewhat similar with the losing powers card, there were MANY differences which separated the two. For one, Vert had lost ALL her power as a Goddess, having only been able to rely on an outside source to transform. Unlike her, who lost the USE of a portion of her power, as doing otherwise would cause damage to her body. Part of her even felt surprised at how Ashbringer wasn't available to use, though another part reasoned that it had been the cause of this situation to begin with.

Ashbringer… what the heck was up with it?

Shaking her head, Noire decided not to focus on that right now, as she had more important matters to attend to, namely two things: first, to stop Arkham from doing whatever he damn well pleased, otherwise he would likely destroy Lastation entirely. The Spell keeping everyone asleep… she didn't know how much time had passed, but she didn't want to press her luck at the moment, especially since it had been so shitty since everything had happened. Slowly, she stood up on her own two feet, albeit with much difficulty. Her legs constantly wobbled about, losing strength at random intervals which almost caused her to fall over. She actually did a couple times, though she quickly recovered from that. By the time she had managed to get to her feet, Noire heaved and huffed like nobody's business, her face literally COVERED with sweat.

But before she could do any of that, she had to take care of the second thing first…

"Lid! Hey, Lid, are you alright?"

Calling out the name of her companion who still lay sprawled out on the stone ground to regain her balance, Noire stumbled forth to Lid's side. As someone who had supernatural empowerment, Noire must have fared much better than Lid had, even with that Heroic Spirit on her side, so her worry for the Spec Ops Agent would be COMPLETELY justifiable. Sad girl had mostly regained her consciousness at this point, she managed to glance over at Noire's direction, her lone red eye showing how weak she looked to be right now. Upon seeing this, the Goddess felt the urge to strangle Arkham when she got the chance, not liking that look on the Spec Ops Agent at all. Because her legs would randomly give out on her, the blackette had to summon Balmung, still within its sheathe though, and use it like some sort of balancing cane instead of its intended purpose. She could just FEEL the indignation Siegfried must be going through upon seeing her do this, but since outside of offering advice and helping her when she asked, he usually remained quiet. "… How you feeling…?"

"… I've been better, Lady Noire…" Lid replied as Noire helped her into a sitting position, wincing when pain flared up from the wound to her thigh. Looking up at her, she questioned with her gaze if Noire could help heal her body from this encounter, only for her to pretty much summarize how Ashbringer's abilities weren't available to her right now. Lid didn't pretend to understand why, though it frustrated her regardless, but she put it aside for now since she still had other means of recovery. Upon gesturing for the CPU to let her go, Lid quickly took out some healing items from her Inventory, draining them dry in order to heal herself… both from her thigh wound, as well as the storm of headaches and concussions which assaulted her brain from the manhandling that Arkham had done to her. Upon thinking about that man however, brought back a storm of negative emotions all at once, causing Lid to grit her teeth in raw fury. "Still though, this doesn't matter. Arkham's apparently still kicking which means I still got an imperative."

Hearing that she STILL intended to go after Arkham in the state that she had been in, made Noire's eyes widen slightly. This would have been the point where she would have, in any other circumstance set, tried to dissuade her from doing so. Most of her reasoning would have been made considering the differences between herself and her target, and by no means was this difference small. It was apparent that Arkham had reached a level beyond that of something Lid would be able to reasonably take down. He reason this would be so, had to do with what kind of fighter Lid was down to her core, something which drastically differed from the many Spec Ops Agents Noire had encountered. She was an assassin type who searched for openings to take out her opponent, so whilst she had been able to take out the lesser Demons such as the ones from the army that had been imprisoned in this place, she likely wouldn't be able to take out the stronger ones. Imagine her fighting something like a Greater Demon like that Bloodletter: Lid would likely only last… about a couple seconds, a minute tops… and she'd been generous on that one. Worse still, was the enemy himself, as neither of them knew what kind of power that Arkham had amassed up till this point, not anymore at least since, with the recent revelations, it seemed that he had WAY more secrets than she or Lid had anticipated.

However, before she could do something like that, or perhaps voice ANY of her opinions on the matter, a thought occurred.

"… Then let me help, Lid."

"?!"

The moment that Noire made that suggestion, her instincts proved her right when she saw the expected reaction her companion possessed: Lid having suddenly stiffening and looking towards her with her eye looking like those of someone whom had spoken an alien language to her. She could relate to that feeling, if she were in her position, Noire would likely have had the same reaction, having known of her relation to Arkham beforehand and thus, formulating the scenario perfectly within her mind. Not only that, but through her possessing a Heroic Spirit of her own, Noire found herself becoming slightly able to sense surprise coming from… something else inside of Lid as well, something she assumed to be the Heroic Spirit she had on her side. The fact that it was an Assassin type probably interfered with this, especially with the Presence Concealment that Lid possessed. Still, Noire didn't break her gaze from her fellow Demon killer, not even for a second as she allowed her to collect herself after confirming her words to be truthful.

A few moments passed, before finally Lid managed to collect herself. This happened in the form of the soldier having shook her head in befuddlement whilst attempting to clear the cobwebs in her mind. Once she did so, did she glance back at her and realize that Noire had not been bluffing one bit in her words, the question revolving around such having manifested one second and vanished in another. Though, the fact that she had stated that did NOT deter or change Lid's immediate response any, which got proven a second afterwards when she nearly recoiled at the proposition. "Y…Y-you must be out of your-" she began…

Only to get cut off by Noire herself. "Oh no I'm not, and you know it, Lid!" she snapped, causing the Spec Ops Agent to shut up. "I get what stakes you have against that guy, but you're forgetting- I have stakes in this TOO! That guy's done TOO MUCH damage to MY country, MY home, MY people." She stated hotly, poking Lid in the chest with her right hand's index finger. Lid tried to respond just then, but Noire stopped that by continuing. "Not only has he harmed many of my citizens, he dares to bring Demons into this world and use other innocents for his own sick gains! I can't let someone whose done all that go unpunished and you know it! Remember, I may not look it right now, but I am STILL Lastation's CPU, it's my duty to stop someone like him!"

"Bu-but Lady Noire! I've been hunting this guy for much longer than you, I HAVE to do this!" Lid finally managed to interject, her eye just as hot and fiery as her CPU's. Goes to show just how alike minded they seemed to be on this subject, huh? "I'm driven to do this NOT just by it being my mission, but its my very INSTINCT. My SOUL is screaming, DEMANDING me to end this bastard if it's the last thing I do! This is my family issue, Lady Noire, so if anyone should do this, its got to be me!"

Upon hearing her explain her reasoning, Noire mentally sighed in exasperation, and if she were more willing to do so, she would have planted a hand onto her face, but right now the importance of the situation and Lid's demeanour didn't allow something like that. She figured this to be the case through her mental analysis, as whilst she hadn't known Lid all that well, this incident being their first meeting, she could tell quite well how she had an avenger's streak going for her. Whenever someone wronged her, Lid would not rest until she'd have paid the favour back, to have punished that person responsible. Being in the military may have mitigated it, alongside the fact that she had to have had fought within many battles against enemies which could have ripped her a new one, but its still very much there.

However, that streak would always tend to block people into a narrow-minded mindset, something which she had personal experience with. She recalled someone whom had that similar mindset, and for once it wasn't Lowee's CPU, but her own mentor Raiden. It had been after they had met for the first time after she had parted ways with Neptune's Party upon their returning to Planeptune to complete their grand quest. She'd seen how his revenge, or his 'revengeance' as he'd called it back then, impacted his mindset she could see in Lid too. Although, unlike her, he had a more cool, calm and composed demeanour about it, whereas Lid had a more… hot-headed approach, according to her observations of her during battle. As a result, she likely would always try to do things one way, her way, and neglect the possibility of accepting other approaches to the problem. It would be the same for any kind of serious avenger… and that would be something Noire would have to change before ANYTHING else could happen. "And that's why my help would be invaluable!"

"Eh?"

Lid, upon hearing those words, felt her building anger get replaced with shock once again. She could only stare, slack-jawed, at the blackette, who saw her opening and took it whilst crossing her arms and leaning against the damaged wall beside her. "Look… #SIGH# I get it, you want to exact your revenge on that bastard, and I agree with you. As much as I want to uphold the Lastation Law regarding him, Arkham's shown me that he's found a way to ascend above it… and THAT is something that I can't stand." She admitted reluctantly, and Siegfried mentally stated his agreement with her. Lastation's laws applied only to humans, and all this time she had been under the impression that, despite the Demonic presence coming from him, that somehow Arkham had remained somewhat human. However, recent events convinced her this wasn't the case. Now that she knew this, it would be time to treat him as a complete enemy of Lastation that must be annihilated, kind of like any Abnormals and Demons that cause trouble for her people.

However, even with her hatred of that disgusting asshole, she still saw the need to keep their rationality about this, especially when she looked at the bigger picture here. Arkham had likely already reached the very top of this Tower, she bet. This spiralling platform had already reached that area judging from how tall it looked, and whilst under normal circumstances she would have been able to fly her way there, her current condition made that an impossibility. That meant that they would have to find other ways to ascend the Temen-Ni-Gru themselves, and THAT would be something they had to devise a plan for. "But, going against him alone would only end up backfiring on us, so why not work together? I'll go up there and beat him down, and when he is weakened enough you get the chance to finish him off. At least then you'll be able to execute your vengeance against him and I stop him from causing any more damage."

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For a moment, silence reigned between them as Noire finally got to the ultimatum that she had wanted to offer. In her mind, Noire hoped that Lid would see reason for this and not go galivanting off on her own. She may be healed up by her healing items, but Noire hoped she could still talk sense after all this. The blackette understood for a FACT that Lid wanted to get revenge on Arkham for the crimes he'd committed, she would have too if she were in her shoes. However, she couldn't just let that anger go to her head and wander off, not when someone else had the potential to be a strong ally against powers she couldn't handle on her own.

On her side, Lid almost didn't believe the audacity that Noire had for telling her all of this, to tell her to let her help her in bringing this man down. Part of her screamed at her to lash out at her, to demean her and mock her for wanting to help out NOW of all times, when there had been so many things in the past which could have been avoided if she were here and not up in Celestia fighting the Console War. She could remember a lot of them as clearly as crystal, especially the atrocities she had witnessed throughout Lastation after the whole Coalition incident, as well as the public reaction to them. She remembered the grieving parents for their lost children, the children pleading for their parents whom had been slaughtered ruthlessly, injured civilians and soldiers seeking salvation from her through the Basilicom only to be coldly denied by her staff. Much of her faith in Lastation's CPU had been destroyed thanks to these things, so she had every right to yell at her hypocrisy for that.

However, before she could comply with these urges, her Heroic Spirit intervened and offered… a different perspective. He forced her to look at the bigger picture, about Arkham and the current situation as she had described… and as much as she hated to admit it, Noire DID have a point. There were too many variables which had changed from all of this, especially with how the entire Tower likely had shifted itself about to make way for this platform. Inevitably, a portal to this Demon World of Slaanesh will be opened, and THAT would spell catastrophic disaster for the still sleeping residents of Lastation. She may have a Heroic Spirit on her side, but she remained just one woman all the same. She was only one woman, with no subordinates, influence on the military, knowledge about the Temen-Ni-Gru which could be classified as iffy at best especially with it in this state, or resources to back her up for this endeavour. As much as going at it alone was an Assassin's calling, what they could truly do to swerve the situation back into their favour would be rather limited.

It didn't just come from him though, as no matter how angry she got, Lid REFUSED to let her emotions get the better of her judgement, something which would NOT make things any easier for her. That had been something which worked against her quite a lot in the past, and nearly led her to making rookie mistakes which could have gotten not only herself, but those working under her, absolutely mauled to death. Her training under her drill sergeant back when she had been a naive rookie in boot camp told her to ALWAYS consider the facts in any given situation before making a move. Always gather information before infiltrating an enemy's stronghold, what kind of resources, manpower, and equipment the enemy used would be classed as examples of this. As such, Noire's offer for assistance actually solved a LOT of potential problems for her…. But it felt a bit humiliating to realize that she would not be able to take Arkham down herself.

In the end though, Lid's rationality won the internal conflict inside of her, resulting in her letting out a sigh of defeat as her shoulders dropped downwards, her head hanging low in front of the CPU. "You… have a point I'll admit…" she answered lowly, but the certainty of her voice reached the blackette's ears. Lid didn't stop there though, as she raised her head and looked at Noire dead in the eye, all sorts of complex emotions swimming within her lone red orb. "If… If Arkham has really already reached the portal to the Slaanesh Demon World, then I'll be unable to follow him even with the powers that I possess. Its infuriating, maddeningly so… but its not like I can do much about it." Finally, another sigh escaped her lips, alongside a frustrated groan as well. "Fine… I'll accept your offer for assistance; however it is ONLY on the condition that I get the finishing blow on that bastard."

"Agreed." Noire replied, and when Lid offered a hand, the blackette smiled resolutely as she took it, the two shaking hands to seal the deal. This turned out… much better than she had expected, convincing someone who hadn't gone through something as disciplined as military training to not go through with narrow-minded revenge, like let's say someone like Neptune or even Compa, would have been much harder in comparison. It could have gone WAY worse though, like it backfiring horribly on her and Lid leaving in a mad rush to get to the Tower's top. Still, now that they had gotten over THAT hurdle, it was time to come up with a plan of action. "Alright, now that we have that settled, we should probably start ascending the Tower again." Noire stated, before looking up at the platform and narrowing her eyes. "It may be just me, but I feel like the Tower will have shifted about to accommodate this new change. Relying on previous information may not work out as well as we may think."

Lid nodded her head in achievement. "Getting to the top will prove problematic in and of itself, however the worse part is that, if the portal's open, we will likely have no way of tracking Arkham down. Even then, you and I may not have the sufficient power to deal with the enemies up there anymore." She added, and that statement held much truth to it. Forget about getting there, the potential for dealing with greater Demons of Slaanesh, something neither of them had experience in, would be much greater now. However, Lid also had something else to say, when she turned to Noire and offered a salute. "Therefore, permission to propose an alternative course of action."

"You may."

"During my scouting and mapping of the Tower originally, I noticed that there were some… suspicious areas that I, for the life of me, could not get access too." Lid explained, before showing her a map of the Tower she had made so far. It looked to have been a pretty detailed map, with level designs, puzzle arrangements, landmarks to suggest entrances and exits, plus so much more. It honestly really impressed Lastation's CPU on how accurate it had looked, although she wondered if this would be useful anymore considering the current scenario. Lid had even highlighted the areas she had spoke of, and when Noire examined the map with a critical eye, her own crimson orbs widened when she noticed something about those areas.

"Those are…!"

"You know them, Lady Noire?"

"Those areas, I went to them and I got transported to these… trial-like areas which resembled places within the Tower. I had to complete some sort of test in them, and if I passed, then I'd receive a reward as compensation for my troubles. I called these areas 'Secret Missions' since they were so well-hidden. Time flow seems to not suffer any abnormalities, meaning normal timeflow in these tests. I did a few of them already, so there shouldn't be too many left." Noire explained, causing Lid to frown in understanding yet confusion at the same time.

She took a moment to process these words, before Lid formulated a plan inside her mind. "I see… interesting it appears only those with access to Demonic Power would be able to access these Secret Missions, then. That just makes things easier than, I've highlighted areas on his map where I feel could have Secret Missions on them. Perhaps we should go there and have you take these tests, just so that you have a bigger arsenal in that we can stand a better chance against greater demons."

Noire nodded her head, understanding where Lid was coming from. Whilst she did think that it could be a risk taking these trials as they, according to past experiences, would be quite time consuming, she did think that she needed additional options in her arsenal. Especially now since it has shrunken so much. Fortunately finding them would be easier than it would have been if she had learned of them from the very beginning with little knowledge of the Tower's layout. "Alright, but we got to work fast, otherwise who knows what damage could be done to Lastation."

"Acknowledged."

* * *

"..."

Light.

So... much... light.

Everywhere one would look, they would only find pure light, golden and glistening like it had nothing to hinder its true glory. If one wanted to make a comparison, then it would be similar to standing within the middle of a sun drawn by a young toddler, only with that kind of golden lustre completely surrounding them. Yet, if one would expand their senses, they would pick up copious amounts of energy starting to course through this void. Energy which, unlike Demonic Energy its complete opposite, felt calm, composed serene and almost mystical in nature. It felt like the warm, gentle guiding hand of a mother trying to ensure that her young would grow up into strong, righteous adults for society's sake, uncorrupted by the world around them. There was darkness to contrast it, it instead looked like one big void of light, with little else inside of it...

Save for one thing...

A floating shapeless mass of pure white light, looking like it was trying to take on a more solid shape, yet could only do so slowly. The mass shifted and contorted like a living organism, swerving around from time to time. All the while the energy permeating throughout this golden, paradise of a void gradually got sucked into the mass, stabilizing it and helping it on its path to obtain a proper physical form. The process had gone on for a long time now, yet the mass didn't have its own will yet, so it wouldn't have known anything about that or the ability to even COMPREHEND anything, let alone the concept of time, morality, knowledge etc. However, that would soon change in the immediate future, that feeling had been known to it for quite some time now.

Soon...

So very soon...

It would be able to return to what it should be, it would reunite with its true mistress...

All of that would happen no matter what, and you know what they say: patience is a virtue.


	31. Chapter 31 - Some new Demons

**Chapter 31 - Some new Demons**

With the allegiance of Lid having been secured, Noire and said Spec Ops Agents left what remained of that underground Chamber, intending to head out towards the outside of the Tower. With how little time they had left, they needed to act fast in completing what Secret Missions remained, so Noire could gain some better equipment to deal with Arkham and any possible Demon encounters up in the higher levels of the Temen-Ni-Gru. Fortunately, there were a couple which Noire knew of right now, so they didn't need to waste time searching for them.

Whilst they had fled the chamber however, neither of them managed to locate any possible remnants of Mundus' body, which pretty much confirmed to them that either the guy had fallen to his death, which had been the least likely but more ideal option (one less enemy to deal with that way). Or, this guy managed to escape the Chamber whilst they had spent their time quarrelling and then deciding upon a plan. His fate, nonetheless, remained an unknown variable to them, but it wasn't like they could do very much. Both time and urgency worked against hem here, so they chose the more important priority of Arkham and his plans to open the Gate to the Slaanesh Demon World.

Thus, began their trek up the upper levels of the Temen-Ni-Gru, constantly being ambushed by Demons all the while. Just as Noire and Lid had suspected together, the Tower's layout had changed thanks to its activation, with the layout contradicting what Lid had already drawn out on her map in her previous scouting efforts. Some areas had been switched to different areas than what the map stated, whilst others looked completely different than compared to before, something which had made Noire comment on how it resembled a Labyrinth even more now. As a result, actually ascending up it would prove to be an increasingly difficult, daunting and tedious task, one in which Noire herself wished she could access her other forms to help them just fly up the Tower from the outside… something which she could no longer do much to her frustration.

It didn't help that, in the case of the Demon ambushes, Noire would occasionally suffer from these short spasms, forcing her to her knees which resulted in Lid having to cover for her ass till the attacks passed over. Upon Lid demanding to know what the fuck had happened to her, Noire had to ask Siegfried and he had to explain it to her. Unfortunately, it seemed that Ashbringer had been the root of this problem, on how it seemed to be trying to perform some kind of process which seemed tied DIRECTLY to her very soul. He wasn't sure on what that process was, but it seemed to have a side effect which is triggered much more in stressful situations like live combat than not. As such, Noire and Lid had to force themselves to limit the times where they could fight the Demons, all the while finishing the fights they DID partake in quickly before the side effect reared its ugly head. What would happen when they confronted Arkham again would be anyone's guess, at this rate…

Nonetheless, Noire hoped this process finished before then, otherwise she may as well be at a total disadvantage when fighting him…

During the Ascension of the Tower though, one instance DID seem more important than the rest of them. Noire and Lid had been ascending up it and had just reached the pathway which would have taken them to the Tower's peak, the one which had spiralled upwards… but the Tower had one last surprise for them at this point, and that took the form of a teleportation into a room filled with darkness. At first, Lid would have tried to destroy it with her Noble Phantasm, but then both of them got attacked… by a single shadowy being shaped suspiciously like Noire's Devil Trigger, carrying a replica of Chaoseater as well. Apparently, Rik had detected a strong power within the being, identifying it as an apparition Demon, which resulted in him advising Noire through Siegfried to defeat and absorb its Soul for the ability. Took a while, what with figuring out it being impervious in the shadows, but it did get defeated and absorbed into Noire by her Appetite Demon once they had worked together to expose it to light, Noire holding it off whilst Lid broke open the lights all over the walls.

But, as a result of this, Noire DID end up gaining a new power from the Soul she absorbed, one she referred to as 'Doppelganger'. Essentially, it was an ability which let her summon a Doppelganger of something in her possession, be it either a full copy of herself with whatever weapon she had on her at the time, or even a copy of a weapon of hers with the same abilities, not weaker than the original by any means either. On the downside though, she could only do one or the other, so she couldn't make a copy of herself AND a copy of a weapon too, plus she could only make one copy at a time. Still, definitely would be a useful ability for her future battles.

Lid DID get a little jealous of her powers developing though, as much as she refused to openly admit it in that classic military style of hers.

Speaking of powers and abilities, whilst Ascending up the levels of the Tower (something they had to do from the outside by climbing up its walls, something way more treacherous than it should have been, with the added demon ambushes that were treated as commonplace within this damned construct), Noire chose to undertake 2 Secret Mission trials, something which Lid helped to escort her to them whilst remaining outside and watching for any changes in their situation. The reason for such actions, as there were way more than three that Lid had detected on the map, had simply been due to the time-consuming nature that the Trials possessed. Noire had already taken on a couple of them herself, but there had still been more than three, and her previous experiences with them had informed her of their time-consuming nature. This had been something she'd relayed to Lid, prompting them to come to their joint conclusion, though despite their intentions this undertaking DID wind up giving Noire a set of goodies she could use to her advantage...

* * *

1 – External Spirit Bone – Samsara Arms – These were the first of the three rewards Noire had found from one of the Trials. At first, she had no clue on what these were, but when she realized they were Spirit Bones, she had to check her many books from the Divine Library to see what these were and how they were different from the norm. Apparently, according to what she found out; these External Spirit Bones were extremely rare forms of Spirit Bones which deviated from the normal six Spirit Bone infusion sites. What made them different from the normal ones was that they had the capacity to evolve into stronger forms along with the user, not to mention they had different sprouting locations from the original 6 set, something which Noire realized immediately when she looked upon the Samsara Arms she'd obtained.

The Samsara Arms, from what she'd seen and felt, took the forms of two long, skeleton Arms which protruded from the back of her nape between her shoulders. They each sported a glowing crimson colour, with a matching hue radiating from their forms, whilst their hands looked to be shaped like the bone hands of a human. They at first, didn't look all that strong, but Noire QUICKLY became convinced of the opposite when they A: picked up her Dragon Fault in one hand and wielded it without any difficulty, THEN absolutely CRUSHED a Demon's head just by pinching it with two digits. Whelp, at least THIS let her use one more weapon, proof that going to these trials would be worth it.

2 – Torso Spirit Bone – Spirit Tortoise – Noire's Second Spirit Bone which took form over her torso and back. It is shaped like that of a Turtle's shell, and according to the records it was actually over 600,000 Years old, quickly making it stronger than her Head Spirit Bone by a wide margin. This Spirit Bone provided her with two special abilities:

**Mountain Defence **– An increase in defence when the Spirit Bone's power is invoked and the object is summoned. Should an attack be stronger than it could withstand, then the Spirit Bone is temporarily disabled and will need time to regenerate itself, unfortunately. This had been something Noire discovered during one of her fights in a later Trial, when A replica of the Geryon managed to make a massive flame attack which proved too great for her Spirit Bone to defend against.

**Gravity Manipulation **– The second ability. The Spirit Bone manipulates the gravity either around Noire within a 20-meter radius, or a select space with the radius being adjustable to her desires. This ability is mostly meant for immobilizing the user's foes, allowing him or her to finish them off. Noire found this out when she managed to immobilize SEVERAL Demons in one space, having to make it large enough to do so, before shredding them with Luce and Ombra. Upon the Spirit Bone being disabled however, this ability is rendered unusable just like the defence boost.

* * *

Noire wouldn't complain about these things she'd gained, not when time was of the essence. By the time she had emerged from the last trial, she had quickly sensed the opening of the Gate to the Slaanesh Demon World, something which had caused her to snort angrily, knowing Arkham had succeeded in his plans to get there. They had to move quickly, there wasn't much time left for them to dillydally, for if they delayed this by even a second, then there would start to be casualties throughout Lastation. THAT wasn't something which Noire or Lid could allow, not one bit, and as such the two girls almost madly scrambled up the Temen-Ni-Gru, rapidly soling the puzzles and quickly finishing off Demons whenever they tried to ambush them. If one were to look at them, then they would likely be considered more Demon-like than actual Demons.

And as such, the two girls didn't take too long before they advanced to the very top once again, Noire having quickly found the way back up there from her previous attempt which resulted in them returning to the very peak.

"So… this is the top…" Lid couldn't help but remark cautiously, her eyes shifting about as she held a Knife close to her chest. Not only her instincts, but her Heroic Spirit kept telling her to be on guard right now as there seemed to be an abundance of energy in the air. Demonic Energy to be more precise, and if her past experiences as well as current knowledge would be anything to go by, sensing Demonic Power near them wasn't really a good thing. Even so, she'd keep her guard up even if they hadn't told her anything, since the basics of her training included doing so wen in hostile environments. "Never thought I'd be able to get up here with all the intense ambushes which were set up… but now I'm finally here…" she muttered, looking around as the two girls up the rest of the pathway, having just escaped the room with the apparition Demon (after spending some time identifying the strengths and weaknesses of this ability, as well as confirming that she can use it in her current condition though).

Glancing over to her as she walked by the Spec Ops Agent's side, Noire arched a brow in her direction, a spark of curiosity lit in her despite the gravity of the situation. "You never got this far?" she questioned, wondering why that would have been.

"Affirmative." Lid answered with a nod… before looking to the side in shame as she scratched her chin with an index finger nervously. "I… never went up this far due to tracking down that bastard Arkham. Since I found he had been going downwards towards this place's bottom…"

"Ah…"

Yeah, Noire did suppose that would have made sense. For someone like Lid, whom at the time had been so focused on getting revenge which she still was, in a sense, she doubted that things outside of it would have had as much importance priority wise. Just proved to her that vengeance narrows one's field of vision, though. Shaking her head, Noire shook those thoughts to the back of her mind, before focusing on what was ahead of them: the very peak of the Tower. Glowing circle, bright beam of light which lead up into that massive hole… yep, definitely looked like the place. "Well, in any case, we're here."

Lid nodded her head in agreement, her eyes narrowing as they proceeded to walk towards the centre. "Agreed. Let's be wary, Lady Noire. There could be all kinds of traps that asshole could have left our way to distract us." She urged, getting a nod from her companion for her efforts.

With that in mind, both girls stepped up the small staircase and onto the top of the glowing platform, Lid having kept her Knife on hand and ready to strike at a moment's notice. Her Noble Phantasm seemed to have been one step away from activating, judging by the faint green aura surrounding her, whilst her lone eye kept glancing from side to side in case of an enemy attack. Even the SLIGHTEST sign of an attack would be enough to set her off, it looked like. Meanwhile, Noire herself had drawn Balmung from the sheathe which appeared over her back, though not in a way which would be impeding her Samsara Arms from manifesting if needed. Not to mention, she looked just one step away from activating her Torso Spirit Bone in case of any ambushes as well.

Though, there was one thing…

Up until they were a few steps away from the centre… nothing really came out to attack them.

"… Something's wrong." Alarm bells rang out in Noire's mind as she said this. She slowly trotted forwards, hearing the sound of her own feet as she stepped across towards the centre of the peak. "This is quiet… WAY too quiet. We can just easily rise up there with no resistance if we step onto the centre of the platform, but there's nothing here to stop us." She remarked, caution coursing through her being as she looked around warily. This wasn't right, her instincts SCREAMED at her that something was amiss here, that there WAS something here, but she just couldn't see it. This feeling felt similar to when Rabbits, with their sensitive hearing, picked up the faintest trail of killing intent She tried to listen for anything irregular, she tried to see if her sense of smell could pick up anything, heck she even tried to sense anything with her energy, but all her attempts came up blank. That just caused her to grow even more cautious and wary of her surroundings. "I don't like it…"

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… But what if she was wrong? What if… there really WASN'T anything here?

Her senses, no matter how hard she tried, DID tell her there wasn't anything around, at least nothing that would sprout claws and try to rake her guts out, heck she'd even go as far as to say she found this place quite peaceful. Plus, she had been quite paranoid lately with all the Demon attacks on her and her companion recently. All around her, Noire could only hear the sweet melody of the gentle winds as her hair fluttered and flapped about behind her, blowing in the same direction as the rest of her clothing. The sweet, gentle caresses of the air around her caused Noire to hum softly in content, further reinforcing the thoughts filling her mind up in a gradual manner. Perhaps she was overthinking things, and her Instincts had begun to work against her? Yeah, that's right. It had to be that, it served as the sole possible explanation for this feeling inside her chest, the blackette felt as she placed a hand over her torso. She lowered her head and closed her eyes, feeling the mad thumping of her heart whilst trying to get it to calm down, to try and make it obey her brain's orders despite the gut feelings fighting against her.

_… __re…_

Now that she were to think about it, wouldn't it be impossible for anyone, and she literally did mean ANYONE, to even be able to catch her by surprise at this point? She had lost count of how many times the Demons had tried to ambush her, and so far, she hadn't really fallen to that many. She thought there had been one time when she had… but for the life of her, she just couldn't recall it. Perhaps it had been so insignificant that it wasn't even worth mentioning in her eyes, so she had just simply forgotten about it. Yeah, that sounded about right, so she didn't bother putting too much thought into it. Instead, she began to wonder if she should start taking a rest for a bit, since she seemed to be getting REAL too trigger happy in recent times.

_…__oire…_

Yeah… yeah, she probably was getting way too paranoid over every single little detail here. She had to find some way to relax herself, let her body take a nice LONG rest or something. All this excessive, unnecessary and fruitless fighting had begun to wear down on her nerves to the point where she felt like she would lose herself if she were to fight anymore. Slowly, Noire leaned her head and upper body backwards, allowing her arms to hang by her sides as a wave of fatigue washed over her, a sigh of weariness escaping her lips. Yeah, a nice nap sure as heck felt great right about now. She felt tired, so goddamn tired that she didn't even have the strength to hold her sword up anymore. Ever so slowly, her fingers gradually loosened around Balmung's hilt, an audible yawn escaping her lips which she covered by lifting her heavy free arm to her mouth. 'Tired… so very tired… perhaps, I can just… sleep… let the world…' she began to think…

Before in that instant…

What was that shadow?

In that moment, something within her mind clicked, and in that instant the blackette's alarm came back in full force. That instant became all she needed and, with a swiftness she didn't even realize she had, Noire quickly reacted in accordance to that feeling. With her will, she activated her head Spirit Bone, and not a moment too soon as, like a fog being cleared by force her mind became much clearer, her previous thoughts vanishing from her mind. Good thing too, as when she blinked a couple times, Noire saw a shadowing form having manifested in front of her having raised an appendage to try and strike her down. She didn't have enough of a chance to identify it properly, only the fact that it was NOT friendly, not in the slightest. 'Wha?!' she screamed mentally, seeing the appendage already on the move to impale her through the chest.

Instincts prevailed as she activated her Doppelganger ability, summoning a copy of herself in front of her whilst jumping backwards. Just a second later, the Doppelganger let out an empty cry as the appendage sliced it completely in half, causing the two halves to fall to the ground below and vanish into nothingness. Fortunately, however, Noire herself remained alright as she landed a few feet away, Balmung tightly gripped in her right hand once more whilst she gritted her teeth at the close call, the thing she had just experienced. 'Geez, what the heck was that about?! I nearly lost myself back there, that was just SO unlike me…!' she screamed in her mind. Just then, she also recalled hearing a voice echo in the back of her mind as well, and her eyes narrowed, knowing that could only have been one person. 'Siegfried, are you alright? You were trying to contact me before, weren't you?'

_…__I'm glad that I was able to reach you in time, though it looks like you managed to break out on your own. The same cannot be said for our companion however…_

Siegfried told her, causing the blackette to quickly stiffen, her skin colour practically vanishing. Noire's eyes quickly shot over to her said Companion. Upon seeing her state however, the blackette could only gape in shock, her jaw dropping open. There, Lid lay on the ground, unconscious and… Sleeping on her side. Her knife lay beside her, whilst she herself looked like she was dreaming of something. That something had to have been something she had wanted, since she seemed to be uncharacteristically grinning like a loon with drool hanging out from the side of her lips. Incoherent mumbling could be heard from her as she laid there…

Completely helpless against the appendages rapidly descending towards her.

'Oh no you don't!'

Noire's fury skyrocketed as the sight of those appendages restored her from her previous shock. Anger exploded in her chest as she dashed forwards in a burst of speed, having summoned a Doppelganger of herself and used the force of the summoning to propel herself forwards. As she nearly flew through the air, Noire allowed her Samsara arms to come out of her, the two arms quickly doing so to reveal how they surpassed the length of her own arms by at least a couple forearms. This allowed them to strike away at the appendages quickly, before they could harm her downed companion until Noire got there, kneeling beside her whilst the Samsara Arms knocked her adversaries away. "Lid! Lid snap out of it!" she yelled, shaking her by the shoulders whilst her extra appendages kept her attackers busy. Furious screeches erupted all around her, but right now all Noire focused on was her unconscious comrade. However, Lid remained in her unconscious state, not waking up despite Noire's efforts to her confusion and frustration. "Tch, darn it Lid, this is not the time for this! Goddammit Wake UP!" She screamed, eventually resorting to slapping the soldier awake.

Fortunately, that served to work, as the woman let out a pained groan whilst her features began to showcase her awakening. Her eyes scrunched together as she began to open them, her vision blurry at first until it cleared up. As such, Lid found herself being greeted by the sight of her Nation's CPU looking down at her, urging her to wake up faster. "Huh? Wha?" For a split-second Lid looked like a kid just getting up from a long nap and not knowing what was going on, until the sounds of screeches quickly made her awaken proper as she frantically sat up. "L-Lady Noire, what-?" she began to ask, only to catch the sight of… well, she didn't know WHAT they were, but they definitely weren't friendly.

Glancing at them as well, Noire could not help but scrunch her face up in absolute DISGUST at what they saw. Circling around them in movements which seemed almost… acrobatic in a sense, were some of the most hideous creatures they had ever seen. They definitely had that common grotesque look to them that Demons universally possessed, each of them consisting of bipedal looking female humanoids. Though, just associating them with the female body felt like goddamn heresy. They each had white, milky skin with bald heads save for a few with long ponytails made from blackened Tendrils protruding out. Some of them had horns protruding out their skulls, whilst each of them all sported narrowed pure white eyes and sharp animalistic fangs. Their torsos had female breasts on them, which made them associate them with female gender as much as the two girls detested the notion, though one of their breasts looked to be covered by a set of metallic plate armour, leaving the other one exposed like some kind of erotic play having been interrupted. Their legs began as white skin down to the kneecaps albeit in a reverse jointed manner, but beneath the knee they ended in bird-like three-talon claws, similar descriptions could be used for their arms too. Only, they may have long scythe-like crab claws which took over their arms from the elbow downwards.

"Okay, THIS is a new type…" Lid muttered as the two girls got to their feet, staring down at their opponents. It didn't take long for the silverette to start feeling woozy though, which resulted in her hissing in discomfort whilst holding her head, something Noire noticed as her eyes flashed with concern. "Tch… damnit… my visions getting blurry… my body feels heavy… what the heck are these things doing to me?!" Lid screamed as she fought to remain conscious. Something which the Demons before them noticed which prompted them to snicker in a knowing manner, identifying themselves as the root to the problem yet seemingly knowing more than the two girls did. Worse was that it was true, too, much to their dismay.

As she glared at these Demons with vicious venom, Noire suddenly had a thought flash through her mind, one which lead her to feeling… some sort of familiarity with looking at them. 'Wait… now that I've seen them, I think I recognize them from somewhere…' she thought to herself, narrowing her eyes as she tried to figure out where she had gotten this feeling from. In the end, it took about 6 to 10 seconds for her to remember it, and when she did her eyes widened in realization once more. 'Ah, I remember now! These things… they're…!'

Demonettes…

That was what they were called, Noire realized. She recognized them from when she tried looking them up in the Divine Library. They were Lesser Demons belonging to Slaanesh, so of COURSE she would want to know about them. They belonged to her arch enemy after all, her direct opposite, so she had decided to research on the Demons surrounding that particular Chaos God. These Demonettes, also known as a "Maiden of Ecstasy", as well as "Bringers of Joyous Degradation", "Harbingers of Endless Delights", and "Seekers of Decadence", Demonettes are all these things and more.

According to what she had read about them, these abominations were the most numerous of Slaanesh's servants. They served him as courtiers and courtesans, created to fulfil Slaanesh's every passing whim. Constantly gossip about as they scheme to earn greater favour from their wilful and fickle master. The Demonettes also served as Slaanesh's warriors and messenger, as when the said Chaos God had his extreme changes of mood, he tended to lash out with his vast legions, sending his Demonettes to tear down everything he finds repugnant, unsubtle and crude, and replace them with artistic vistas of destruction.

This wasn't to say that they were weak in battle, oh no far from it. In battle, almost seem to DANCE across blood-soaked ground, dead bodies forming a carpet beneath their clawed feet. Their honeyed voices are raised in joyous songs of praise to Slaanesh as they slay and maim in the name of agony and pleasure. As children of Slaanesh's degenerate dreams, Demonettes bring all he has to offer to the fore. They do this by seeking out and exploiting the desires of their victims, which isn't as easy as it sounds. Not all mortals yield to the temptations of the pleasures of the flesh; some have deeper desires that are only discovered through more deliberate probing of their wills. As such, all Demonettes have great ability in mentally peeling away the defensive walls that shield the desires of men and women - as well as other, more alien beings - from discovery. If a mortal seeks adoration, these daemons know the words of seductive guile to speak into his ears to cause him to lower his guard. If that man wants nothing more than to be recognised above his peers, the child of malice knows how to sweetly praise him for his achievements. There is no buried dream, no subdued ambition that a Demonette cannot uncover and exploit. When it does, the focus of its attention is surely doomed to feel the tender caress of honeyed lips and razored claws.

That MUST have been what had happened to her before, Noire realized as she held her weapons defensively, the Demons surrounding the two of them hissing and shrieking violently. They must have hidden themselves from her and then trapped her within their mental illusion, bringing out her deep desire to end this conflict already. As for Lid though, Noire wasn't as sure on what she had wanted, but it sure as hell got seen and exploited by the Demonettes since they had successfully reduced her companion to such a state before, too. These revelations served only to piss Noire off however, as the blackette growled under her breath whilst a vicious vengeful flame burst forth from her eyes in the form of an equally vicious glare. Raw fury exploded within her being at the audacity of these Demons. 'These… beasts…! How DARE they! How DARE THEY USE MY OWN DESIRES AGAINST ME LIKE THAT!' Noire raged mentally, her fury burning away the Demons which tried to use their inherent ability to peer into her soul to bring out her desires once more. Some of them hissed in frustration at this, their teeth clacking together whilst some smashed their claws on top of one another.

Unbeknownst to Noire, a faint silhouette began taking shape behind her, appearing briefly in the form of a formless mass for a moment, before it vanished once again. Nobody would have noticed it, not herself, nor the Demons, not even Lid…

But Siegfried did, but chose not to say anything about it given Noire's present mental state.

"SCREEEEE! SCREEE-SCREEE-SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Multiple shrieks came out of the Demonettes, most of them coming from one in the centre which seemed to A: have a taller form than the rest, B: more Armour over its body which only exposed its arms above the elbow and legs above the knee, and C:… have multiple sets of breasts the size of a certain Nurse's. Noire tried WAY too hard not to think about that one, honestly, as both her and Lid saw their newest opponents break into mad sprints and rush towards them like bullets.

"Stay close, Lid! Don't want you getting knocked out by their musk!"

"That sounds disgusting, but roger!"

With that, the two charged back at their incoming enemies. At first, Noire expected that the ones coming from the front would be the ones needing to be taken down first, but then her instincts alerted her to the approaching Demonettes from the left and right flanks. They had snuck around from behind their brethren and had already leapt towards them with the intent of rending their bodies to pieces with their large claws. Noire however, refused to let that happen as she, after grabbing onto Lid's shoulder, slammed both Samsara arms into the ground and jumped, propelling both girls over the incoming attacks. As they did so, however, both girls shuddered in disgust when they heard… moans of pleasure when the Demons slashed at one another instead of their intended target, their eyes glossing over each other's forms with a lustful undertone like they were one step away from fucking each other's brains out.

'Okay, I know these guys were described as constantly 'enjoying battle and playing with their victims', but this is ridiculous!'

Noire couldn't help but think this as she saw the Demonettes start 'dancing' about, guided by the more armoured one which she figured was their leader. Lid assumed so as well, as during their aerial movement, she managed to launch several Baterangs at the said Leader, only for the others to shield her. Well, more like they wanted to 'embrace' the pain like a bunch of masochists since the Baterangs, once piercing the Demonette's feminine forms, elected howls of twisted pleasure from them. Flipping through the air and landing behind the groups of ravenous Demonettes, Lid and Noire got their ranged weapons out, a Rocket Launcher for the former and the latter pulling out her dual Handguns, Luce and Ombra. With this done, both girls began to pepper their enemies with projectiles, wanting to keep them as FAR AWAY from them as possible.

BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG!

At once, a hailstorm of bullets descended upon them without mercy like thousands of angry deities' intent on smiting those who dared offend them, though the Demonettes didn't give much of a crap about that as they practically danced across the Temen-Ni-Gru's peak. Their movements, more agile and flexible than the most professional of athletes, gymnasts and dancers combined, would have been mesmerising to the mortal eye. Pretty much to the point where their natural miasma would have been able to influence the minds and souls of those mortals into revealing their deepest, darkest and twisted of their sinful desires. flipping, twisting and turning about whilst bending their bodies almost unnaturally in order to avoid each round. Those rounds which DID manage to hit them they only just groaned in pained pleasure, kind of like victims of NTR who were slowly starting to enjoy their treatment on hentai sites.

Screeches erupted from a couple of them which came at them from the flanks, whilst several more sped up and charged at them from behind. Seeing this whilst constantly firing rounds at the ones up front to try and hold them off, Noire glanced towards Lid and gave her a subtle nod before tilting her head to their rear. Upon seeing this, Lid quickly clued in on what she intended whilst quickly springing into action without a word. She twisted herself around whilst curving around her front (making sure to crouch to help keep Noire firing her Handguns), before she aimed her Rocket Launcher at the rapidly approaching Demonette's.

BANG-BANG!

In the following moment, a couple loud sounds exploded forth from the Rocket Launcher, those explosions releasing a pair of rockets that flew in their direction. Upon seeing them coming from a mile away however, each Demonette quickly darted to their sides, howling as they leapt forth towards their prey with their claws and fangs bared. If one were to look into their eyes at that moment, then they would only see something akin to the eyes of someone when they are about to violently launch a sexual assault on someone. However, Lid didn't let that happen, proof being how she tossed her Rocket Launcher back into her Inventory (there weren't any rounds left in it frankly, plus reloading would take too long), so she could pull out a pair of submachine guns in one hand. She then flipped one into the air and pulled out a couple more Baterangs from her Inventory, tossing them towards one Demonette whilst peppering the other with her sole remaining submachine gun.

Moaning and groaning at the pleasurable 'pain' coursing through it upon the bullets penetrating its flesh, the Demonette managed to close the remaining distance between them and swing its right claw towards her torso, towards the space above her breasts but below the base of her neck. Lid however, smirked darkly at this whilst mentally wincing at how… intoxicating the fumes that the Demon naturally released kept trying to cloud her judgement. 'Not letting that happen twice!' the silverette thought whilst she flipped forwards and over the Demonette, causing its strike to hit nothing but air. As she flipped overhead, Lid did two things, one before the other. The first thing she did was to kick the bitch in the back of the head, knocking it down to the ground beneath them, then followed up with the second action: the grabbing of the Submachine Gun she had tossed into the air previously. Aiming both down towards the downed Demonette, Lid peppered the creature with bullets, causing it to squeal out in both pain AND pleasure.

'Damn Demons, just fucking die already!'

Whilst she made sure to hide her disgust regarding it's perverted demeanour, Lid quickly planted both feet into its back, then raised one to pump as much energy into the following stomp as she could. Her stomp got aimed at the back of its head, something which the Demonette noticed but couldn't dodge in time. In the end, the Demonette's skull got smashed to paste with an audible SQUELCH sound coming from the space Lid stomped… including the sounds of bones shattering and flesh being squished to a liquid-like form. Upon doing this, Lid's brow twitched when she got a much BIGGER whiff of the Demonette's fumes, nearly causing her to black out again. 'Tch… gotta be more careful of that in the future…' She thought to herself, before glancing back to Noire's position and calling out to her. "Lady Noire, keep away from them when killing them! Their fumes increase in quantity when they die!"

"I know, don't worry Lid!"

* * *

That was what Noire called back to her with, having already killed 2 Demonettes already by pulling a couple headshots on them… although those kills had been merely flukes since the remaining Demons largely focused on herself, by orders of their little leader. Noire distinctly recalled in her mind whilst firing Luce and Ombra, that the elite type Demonettes were usually referred to as Heralds of Slaanesh, ones whom were much closer to their Chaos God which allowed them the pleasure of receiving greater power from him. Shaking her head to rid herself of such unnecessary thought, Noire soon saw the remaining Demonettes converge on her position, which had been separated from Lid's by at least 8 meters, causing her to scoff. 'Tch, looks like their aim was to split Lid up from me whilst going for the greater threat… No matter!' she thought to herself, readying her Samsara Arms…

Which had two Balmungs inside their hands whilst Noire holstered her Handguns to draw Nevular out of her Inventory.

'I still have a way of sealing their movements!'

After engaging her Torso Spirit Bone, Noire waited till the Demons were close enough… before unleashing a wave of Gravity manipulation all around her. Each Demon felt their bodies explode with increased weight, causing them to howl in pleasure as they fell to the ground, unable to continue their offensive. 'Yes! it worked! I could have tried to do it sooner, but one those guys moved too fast for me to get a good shot off, and using this ability frees the others of its danger so they can still attack me. Getting them all to come to me had been my target all along!' Noire thought to herself, though in reality she had just played the waiting game. These Slaaneshi Demons didn't know about the recent additions to her arsenal she had gained, and as such she had to make each use of them count.

Just before she could move to silence them once and for all however...

BA-BUMP!

"Guh!"

Noire cringed deeply, raising her hand to clutch her chest where her heart would have been. A searing, infernal and blazing agony erupted from within there, and it was NOT unfamiliar to her. It still had strong intensity though, nearly enough for her to deactivate the Spirit Bone she was using, though Noire persisted. 'Grrr… this pain...! Damnit Ashbringer, why are you acting up NOW of all times...?!' Noire screamed mentally, although she knw she wouldn't get an answer since neither of her tenants knew either. This pain, brought into being from her condition with Ashbringer... she didn't know HOW this happened, WHAT was exactly happening or WHY, but it would HAVE to end soon. She couldn't keep going on like this, not when Arkham was getting closer to his goals.

To that end, Noire charged forth towards them with Nevular ENGULFED by chaotic, violent Lightning. Lid, seeing her intention, readied her Submachine Guns and let loose as well.

For the Demons, this would be their final battle, though whilst that thought process filled their minds it in fact didn't cause them any kind of despair. Instead, each of them howled together, as if they were experiencing the ultimate BLISS that was the pleasure brought about by the feeling of impending doom brought upon them. Each of the Demons, under the influence of Noire's Spirit Bone's Gravity ability, started to stand up with shaking bodies, bodies which constantly got peppered by round upon round of bullets rained upon them. Some of them had limbs severed by those bullets, causing the to fall over once again, this time unable to get up and thus could only look death in the face when Lid's rounds tore through their skulls.

As she got closer to them during this situation they had found themselves in, Noire herself coated Nevular in Lightning, sparks flying from the blade itself as she constantly hacked, slashed and thrusted the blade about. Her sword whizzed through the air during each well-timed swing, showing off combat experience which could only have come from extensive battles. Experience which shined brightly upon the battlefield as the lightning-clad blade off limbs, hacked through flesh and bone alike, severed heads and even ripped the Demons in half when it got the chance. It, it being a Satanic Treasure which could currently match Continent Class DPUs, easily tore through the Demonettes like a hot knife through butter, Lightning dancing across its form whilst launching sparks into the surrounding areas within each swing. It helped that she had her dual Balmungs get swung about by her Samsara Arms in massive, wide arcs, slicing through both the air and anything else within their paths, becoming two literal vortexes of blood and... other fluids that Noire would never describe, not in a million years.

There WERE times when that pain from her condition explode within her heart like nuclear warheads, the pain not letting up nor letting her get used to it too, but she forced herself to keep going lest she give these damned Demons a chance to retaliate.

Whilst Noire performed slashes all around her like an expert slasher serial killer, her multiple swords dripping with the blood of her enemies, Lid herself kept to the rear and circled around the carnage, rapidly firing one type of gun after another. She had o be careful not to hit Noire in the beginning, as she feared what might happen if she needlessly injured her own comrade, however that fear soon dissipated into the battlefield. The reason for that? Simple, Noire multiple blades simply tore the space around them apart at such speeds that no bullet could even reach her. 'So... that's what Noire's like when she get serious, huh...?' the silverette could only think to herself. She may have seen how Noire fought in the past, many times even, but it never failed to amaze her just how much the CPU had been rapidly developing her battle prowess. Instead of just some figurehead which she had once been before...

Lid felt like she was looking at a Spec Ops Agent, and a tough one at that.

Of course, the Demonettes didn't stay idle and let the two girls take them out, they wanted to take a glorious end towards embracing the ways of their lord. Pain was their mistress, Slaanesh their master, husband, lover, everything in between. Each act of disfigurement and humiliation is met with shrill keening excitement by all the Daemonettes, each trying to out-perform the other in some extravagance. By doing such horrific acts they can then drink in the terror and despair, tasting the raw emotions that fill the air. As they fell to the blade and guns assaulting them, all of them made various attempts in some form or another to strike at Noire and Lid even till their last breath, launching wild, unfocused strikes to strike at their limbs or weapons. Some lunged at the blackette kamikaze style, kind of like a bunch of clowns running into a crowd of people in the form of suicide bombers.

All kinds of tortured, pleasurable moaned mixed with screams followed for the next 10 minutes...

Well, that is until dozens of Portals manifested from out of nowhere filling both the skies and the ground throughout the Tower's peak, to which HUGE numbers of Demonette's and Heralds jumped out. They would each shriek, caw and howl in a battle lust-filled frenzy as they descended upon the two girls, said girls only wondering one thing:

When will this ever end?


	32. Chapter 32 - A new Enemy Emerges

**Chapter 32 - A new Enemy Emerges**

Navigating this Slaaneshi Demon World proved to be every bit of difficulty as Arkham had expected, and that was saying something considering the amount of work which he had put into this little plan. The man had to, at the moment of arriving in this world, quickly transform into his Jester persona in order to fight off a wave of Demonettes who wished to try and take his Soul for their God. Fortunately for him, his transformation into his demonic form managed to be their ultimate adversary, especially in the mind department. Their musk, natural charms and bewitching abilities had little effect on the psychologically insane brain he possessed whenever turning into that state, which served its purpose in immunizing him to their bewitching charms. Aside from that, he was a man whom had given up pursuit of a lot of different things, things which he had deemed unnecessary for his goals. One such thing had been the 'heart' to love another, heck the only reason he had even married that woman was so that he could verify if she had been one of the descendants of that innocent woman whom had been sacrificed to seal the Temen-Ni-Gru away.

Thus, dealing with them proved to be a minor difficulty for him.

Once they had been defeated, Arkham had wasted no time in invoking every kind of cloaking magic he had researched in his pursuit of the demonic arts to turn himself into a Demon. He even drunk all kinds of invisibility potions which he had saved just for this occasion, making sure that there would be ZERO chance of another attack on his life in this Demon World happening ever again, at least until he reached the manifestation of the power that he so craved. It wouldn't do for him to be on death's door, or worse prepped to enter that damned bug of a God's stomach before he could even become the God that he so rightfully deserved. He had come this far, so some mangy pests would NOT be what stops him from achieving his long-term objective.

With that out of the way, the man began his exploration of the Demon World, which would prove to be the trickiest part of his plan by far, more so than everything else he'd done like manipulating the DPU and the Goddess of Lastation, turning himself into an incomplete Demon and evading the authorities long enough to gather all the information he could. There were several reasons for this, one of them is that no matter how much information he managed to glean, either from ancient ruins which looked like they would shatter at any moment, looking up old texts which only HINTED at these secrets, or even bribed those pursuing the dark arts just as he was, Arkham could not find much on this Demon World in which the power he sought lay dormant, sealed away by the one who 'took' it. This likely had to do with the passage of time erasing MUCH of the information he would have needed to properly locate the power, but then again not even the Temen-Ni-Gru had THAT knowledge.

For the second reason, it had to do with the Demon World itself, or rather how it works. Every Demon World, according to Arkham's research, fell under the rule of a Demon Prince whom had conquered it for its own Chaotic Godly master, and depending on which Chaos God it worshipped the appearance of these Demon Worlds varied. For example, THIS one was ruled by a Demon Prince of Slaanesh, and if he were to describe what he would see whilst trying to navigate through this place, then Arkham would describe it as the interior of a den of prostitutes. There was very little lighting as the skies above were covered in these dark, stormy-looking clouds, clouds which sort of reminded him of that sickening thing women wear called perfume. He knew that from when he had once been a married man, and once she had been his first sacrifice, Arkham had destroyed ALL perfume sources in the house by burning it to ashes… there WAS a time when he'd noticed signs of a slight bulge on his wife's stomach at the time, but he didn't care to investigate and just left the charred corpse there since it no longer had any use for his goals. This scent also filled the air that he breathed as well, and if he had any less fortitude than he did, then Arkham didn't doubt the… high concentration of this air could have induced him into a pleasure filled coma until his body naturally rotted away. Any less fortunate souls who found themselves in his situation would have fallen victim to this fate.

Then again, where the normal mortal mind would see this as an abominous world and want to bleach themselves to forget about it, this world would be pretty much a paradise for those seeking nothing but self-indulgence. To a follower of Slaanesh, or even a Chaos follower in general, the ultimate reward for them would be eternal servitude as a Demon Prince. Immortality, power beyond imagining, it beguiles many a mortal man, and Arkham had seen dozens of examples of this. Personally, he himself didn't see the appeal in achieving immortality using this approach, as even if one DID become a Demon Prince, they would still be forced to serve their whimsical Gods for all of eternity and being someone's servant did NOT pique Arkham's interest or fancy one bit. He wasn't a servant; he would rather be a RULER.

Not to mention there was one other problem with this process, and that was the necessary requirements to achieve it. The accomplishments a mortal must achieve to receive this blessing varied from god to god, according to what Arkham had learned. For some, the path is straight, like for example Khorne whose forces are trying to take over Leanbox. A follower of the brutish Khorne, for instance, must slaughter in the Blood God's name, reaping skulls and draining blood until his god takes note. It was a simple, direct, and largely the same for all who serve him. In his mind, Arkham believed this to be ironically one of the EASIER ways to become a Demon Prince, plus its one which a LOT of people would likely gravitate towards. Mostly due to humanity's inborn urge, hunger, for violence, proof being in how people LOVED to wage conflict of any kind, be it war or even down to First Person Shooter videogames.

For those who wish to enjoy the Lord of Excess' complete embrace however, the path to greatness would be considerably vaguer. Many avenues are open to be explored, many hidden pathways awaiting eager probing by the curious and dedicated devotee. All one must do is select one and find a way to take it to a level of excess so sublime that Slaanesh's attention would be drawn to them, and THAT took an unknown time frame if one asked Arkham. Once one had their master's eye, they must then continue to push, to break through boundaries and limitations. They must amuse the Prince of Pleasure in such a way that they are judged to be not only unique, but worthy of reward, for uniqueness alone wasn't enough. From the few texts he'd read of him, Arkham believed that the Dark Prince touched many mortals in horrifying and cruel ways, warping and twisting them into mindless, unnatural forms. All of the Ruinous Powers were capricious at best, and were as likely as not to lavish mutations upon their followers, but Slaanesh's urges for indulgence made his caresses especially risky. A mortal could achieve greatness worthy of notice, only to be ruined and become a mindless Chaos Spawn because the Dark Prince was in an especially wistful mood.

Those that DO all this despite the great odds against them, would receive the greatest gift of all, though, realise their goal of immortality and would be reborn as a Demon Prince. It is the nature of Slaanesh, however, that even this great accomplishment is more of a beginning than an end point. The newly transformed Demon Prince must continue to push the edges of excess, must do more, must be more. If one was rewarded for creating an elixir so sweet to the taste that its mere scent causes people to ingest ceaselessly until they drown in it willingly, they must find a way to entice entire worlds to choose to taint their supplies of drinking water with the deadly concoction. This accomplished, he must go further with his creation, perhaps altering it to leave each victim with a yearning smile on his face. Service is unending and eternal. Failure is as well, for Chaos Spawndom or worse was always a possible punishment for disappointing Slaanesh, even for a mighty Demon Prince.

So yeah, Arkham did NOT fancy that method of attaining power, not one bit.

Oh, back to the subject of describing his surroundings whilst on his search, then there were the various structures he saw whilst exploring the place, structures which somewhat resembled various… sexual positions, sexual toys and various reproductive organs. He saw formations built to display acts of all kinds of indulgence, be it sexual or nonsexual alike. Masses of orgies could be seen in the distance, throughout the various environments Arkham travelled across as Demons engaged with each other (sometimes with other creatures, he did see a few humans here and there) in all kinds of sinful, twisted forms of pleasure. Things which even professional creators of hentai would go cherry red in the face in a mixture of morbid curiosity and disgust at the sight of. Every kind of twisted pleasurable act could be seen occurring in those surrounding environments, and it didn't matter what kind of race, background ethnicity or even gender the participants had, it could have been a man, a woman, an elderly person, or even children, nothing seemed to escape the dark desire to engorge themselves on as much sin as they could to please their incredibly fickle master.

Of course, Arkham didn't get bothered by the sight as he focused solely on finding the power he craved, but even someone as goal-oriented as himself had to admit that the Dark Prince of Pleasure's minions lived up to what they were described as in what little information he could dig up about them.

In the end though, it took him a good 50 minutes before he finally found himself achieving any results, results which almost costed his cover since he had to overhear several powerful Demonette's, likely Heralds of Slaanesh, gossiping about the power that they safeguarded from mortals attempting to obtain it. He did dispatch them easily enough however, since they never even sawn him coming, but nonetheless Arkham managed to locate the power of the DPU that he craved…

Which resulted in him finding himself in… this space.

If he were to describe it, it would have been a space located far above the planet's atmosphere, as below could only showcase a sea of those storm clouds. Some statues and mountain ranges, each of them shaped like massive sex toys, protruded outwards to go and rip through the clouds to showcase their height, but that wasn't much in his eyes. It took him a LOT more than what he had initially expected to make it this far, most of his Demonic Power having been expended to avoid deadly traps and temptations from passing by Slaaneshi Demons. It wasn't like they KNEW he was an intruder since his Demonic Aura, combined with all the tonics and spells he casted hid his presence, but there were often a lot of 'random encounters' in Gamindustri Terms. Not all of them were even from Demonettes, as there were all kinds of Demons in this world, many of which he had no clue as to their true capabilities until he met them, which had prompted Arkham to think fast on his feet, lest he fall victim to their twisted machinations… sort of like humans fighting Abnormals now that he thought about it. Still, he had managed to locate this place, which just so happened to be in an isolated part of the Demon World, he could tell this due to there being subtle differences in reality around here which indicated some kind of barrier. The only reason why he had been able to pass, had to have been due to him possessing both pendants needed to unseal the trapped power here. An 'all access key' one might call them, though he wouldn't be complaining.

But now, now he found himself CLOSE beyond belief to his goal, and thus he wouldn't be stopping now. Walking along a path of rocks, one which constantly formed itself in front of him just before he took his next step, Arkham slowly reached a tall platform, one surrounded by smaller, more cylindrical pillars. It looked to be shaped like a fully erect penis (there being ones 'limp' and they looked desecrated, as if to say this was NOT the way of Slaanesh. Weird…), with the smaller ones mirroring it, no small amounts of Demonic Energy circulating through the atmosphere.

However, none of this caught the Scholar's attention, nor did it hold his focus.

No, what HE had his eyes on…

Was what lay embedded within the platform's 'tip'.

There, impaling the 'tip' in a way which, alongside the platform's shape, gave the impression of something which would cause any mortal man to cover his groin in absolute terror, was a sword. Upon noticing it, any normal person wouldn't really consider it any 'amazing' sword, especially when compared to weapons like the Rebellion, Soul Edge, Murasama etc, instead It just looked like an ornate but fairly unremarkable sword, one which looked to be the length of a traditional longsword. The guard took a "W" shape, with various carvings engraved into the flat surfaces. It sported a spiral handle that leads to four skulls on the pommel with a spike at the top, with its blade being double edged and narrowed at the tip, making it an ideal weapon for cutting and thrusting. That last part only got discovered by Arkham's future actions regarding the blade, though.

Approaching the weapon with his eyes glued to its form, Arkham held his mouth slightly open as if he were looking at the most divine of artefacts. He had sought this weapon for so long now, having only heard vague stories from Vicious about the fate of the power sealed within this blade, a physical form of this power. It didn't look like anything special, but somehow his instincts, both his human and his Demon ones, told him that this blade was anything BUT ordinary. If anything, its lack of extravagance only made him even MORE excited to finally pull the blade out of its seal. With that in mind, Arkham stopped when he was within grasping distance of the sword, sensing the presence of the seal which kept it at bay. He then reached into his coat pockets, pulling out both amulets and putting them together. Both accessories, upon becoming close to one another, pretty much fused their behinds whilst floating over the sword's pommel, before slowly descending in a spiral formation down into the sword itself.

The moment that they touched the weapon, both amulets vanished inside of it, sinking into it as if it were a pool of liquid. Afterwards, Arkham waited for only a second, before he covered his face with a single forearm as a surge of Demonic Power exploded from the sword like a violent earthquake finally being released after years of tension reaching a boiling point, shattering the seal which bound it. From here on, this ended up causing it to radiate a dark violet aura, one which matched that of a certain DPU whom he'd used as a steppingstone to get to where he was currently at.

'Yeeeessssss… now, the sword is free… my power… you will now belong… to MEEEEEE!'

Thoughts of greed filled his mind, originating around the power which lay there before him, ready to be taken into his grasp. Now, despite this Arkham didn't fool himself into not thinking there weren't any risks. The power of a DPU was far unlike that of an ordinary Devil Arm, or even an Archdevil Arm. When a DPU manifests their personal weapon, such as Nico's Soul Edge (he knew of his feats, even the ones which got covered up, pre and post DPU Transformation), it shares a strong connection with that DPU's soul. Pretty much nobody should be able to wield such a weapon, as they would be completely rejected by the weapon, sometimes they might even attack that person who dared try to wield their power as if they were worthy of such an honour. In that way, they were similar to Devil Arms. However, the situation with THIS particular weapon was a… little bit different, and complicated, but because of that his desire to become a DPU had become potentially possible.

Only one way to find out…

With that in mind, Arkham grasped onto the blade's handle with both hands, clasping onto it tightly as if it would try to struggle to break free from him. In that moment, Arkham groaned and grimaced, forcing himself to bite his tongue till it bled to endure the sudden surge of AGONIZING pain which exploded through his arms and into his body. The sword in his hand surged violently, energy sparks erupting everywhere as its power flowed into him like an invading army, pretty much ripping him apart from the inside out. Blood exploded out of countless wounds which showed up on his person, as Arkham let out a loud cough. Not a good idea since this got followed up with a practical waterfall of blood, vomit and pieces of his innards. Veins popped over his head and body, as the man fell onto one knee whilst enduring the pain to let the process continue.

'Tch… as I expected…! The process of fusing this weapon… to my soul… will not be an easyone…!'

The agony…

Oh, the AGONY!

If he were a Follower of Slaanesh, this would have been something akin to euphoria for him, pain being his ultimate maiden, his unforgiving mistress. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how one looked at this, he wasn't, and so Arkham continued to gnash his teeth together whilst enduring the transformation process. All the while, the sword's aura slowly crept up his arm as its power invaded his very soul, almost lighting him up aflame in terms of sheer torment. Yet, the man didn't scream, not once as he kept focusing on his goals, not letting everything he had worked for up until this point go to waste right at the finish line. He had come WAY too far for something like that.

And so, the process continued, transforming mind, body and very soul into something… else.

* * *

"Haaah… Haaaaaaahhh… haaah…"

"Guuuh… guuuuuuuugh… guuuuh…"

After the last Demon fell to the ground below, having its completely MUTILATED body disperse into Particles just like countless Monsters before it, both Noire and Lid finally found themselves able to experience a break from the intense combat. Loud breaths of exhaustion escaped their lips as they heaved, huffed and gasped, their lungs burning in a desperate cry for aid which only now could they at last satiate. Their arms hung themselves limply by their sides, burning up beyond belief from the effort they had been exuding for this entire fight, neither of the two having much strength left to say anything to each other at this point let alone express relief in that their opponents had finally, FINALLY been vanquished. All the while, the massive spiralling clouds which circled overhead began to rumble, thunder and lightning flashing through them. It looked like there would be a chance of rain soon, something which had already happened once before, back when Noire and Vicious first fought, though that information seemed trivial compared to their current situation… and boy, what a situation it turned out to be.

This battle…

Had been one of the HARDEST ones that they'd fought in yet.

It wasn't due to anything like the Demonette's surpassing them in power levels, no way. In fact, Noire felt like they were quite weak, and she would DEFINITELY comment on that if she had the strength to do so. She had read that they were considered Lesser Demons of Slaanesh, just like how the Bloodletters were the Lesser Demons belonging to Khorne, and it showed in their combat strength. However, what differentiated them from the ferocious, barbaric and brutally ruthless Bloodletters was in their technique, just like in that Slaaneshi Champion in the Leviathan. They moved in such agile, evasive-orientated ways, always flipping about and taunting them whenever they tried to strike them down during the initial stages of their fights. Until she could at least gather them together enough so that her Torso Spirit Bone's Gravity Manipulation could ensnare them, these Demonettes seemed to relish in annoying the two girls to no end, almost like they were a bunch of children 'playing' with their new 'toy'.

At this point, they had dealt with over 100 different waves, and she mentioned different due to there being some waves were the Demonette count had been smaller than the others… though that only had led them to a false sense of security since the waves after them would be MASSIVE, almost rivalling a fully developed Army. Noire honestly had no idea just HOW many Demons there truly were, it almost seemed like they were completely endless, numbers not even able to be considered applicable to them. If that truly WAS the case… Noire could only shudder at the potential fate which could befall Leanbox.

Whilst trying to ignore the images of a continent reduced to one of searing flames and ruined lands, as well as countless horribly mutilated corpses aside, Noire lifted her head in the direction of her companion, whom stood not too far from her. "Haaah… how are… haaah… you feeling…. Haah… Lid….?" She asked between breaths. Throughout this long battle, most of their tactics revolved around staying close together and not getting split apart to the point where they could no longer see/support one another. This way, they would be able to quickly deal with their enemies whilst conserving their stamina, just in case this fight turned out to be one of attrition…. Something which turned out to be true when they discovered the unending waves.

Upon hearing the voice of her companion, Lid slowly raised her head whilst panting heavily, as evident by the rapid rising and falling of her sweat-covered chest. More sweat slid down her forehead as well as down the sides of her neck, though this detail only served to show just how utterly exhausted the silverette looked to be due to the constant strain of unending battles. Even under the strategy she and Noire had followed, this was the result. As someone who fit the role of an Assassin rather than an outright Warrior, Lid did NOT have the physique to compare to someone of said class, nor did she have as much capability in these extended battles. "Yeah… haaah… I'm good… haah… Lady Noire…" she responded between her pants, just as Noire had done when asking her that question. "Though… haah… it seems… haaaah… we might…. Haah, haah… not be done… haah, haaah, haah… just yet."

"Eh…?"

At first, Noire didn't get what Lid meant by that, but upon her noticing that, when speaking that last part Lid had been looking upwards, the blackette did the same thing. Once she turned her head to look up at the skies, she quickly saw what Lid meant… and had to hold back the urge to curse Arkham with every word in the dictionary. "You know… Arkham is really… REALLY asking… for it…" Noire breathed out roughly, exhaustion evident yet the sheer anger in her eyes could easily be felt from her words as well.

Up above them, there lay the portal to the Slaaneshi Demon World, surrounded by those chaotic-looking storm clouds. Lightning arched around it, guided by thunder as well as an unimaginable amount of Demonic Power. Power which, upon sensing it and following it to its core, came from the Demon World itself as it spilled through the portal. There was only one problem… many alien-looking symbols spiralled around the portal's edges, forming a multi layered circle around it. Lid and Noire BOTH knew what those were, what they represented, and upon seeing them a wave of indignation and fury hit them:

A Sealing Array.

"Tch… a Sealing Array… huh?" Adrenaline rushed through her body, and some of her stamina managed to recover, as a result Lid managed to lessen the amount of panting, she did to be able to speak properly… although there were still pauses in her speech. Just looking at it almost made her wonder if it just got put there to annoy the shit out of them, Lid wouldn't put it past her Uncle to do something so shitty like that. "Looks different… from the others… we've seen…" she couldn't help but comment after eyeing them for a bit longer.

Noire nodded her head in agreement, however unlike Lid who had no clue as to the differences between the Arrays, she herself DID. "Yeah… I read up… on them before… I destroyed the… array to that… place at the bottom…" Noire remarked, as she managed to pull herself together again, standing upright with Balmung in one hand, and her Samsara Arms retracted into her for the time being. Nevular had vanished back into her Inventory too. "These Arrays… depending on the order… their Wards are… arranged… they can have… different effects…" she mumbled, narrowing her eyes as she tried to see if she could decipher the Wards purpose. Seconds into the attempt, Noire came to the conclusion that this one had WAY more sophistication behind it than the ones she and Lid had seen before, which made her wonder if Arkham had been the one to make it. If he did, then the other ones had to have been made by Vicious, so that would mean the Scholar was better at this than the Warrior…

Seemed kind of obvious, when she thought about that some more.

Still, there was one fact which irritated her the moment she discovered it, and that was that she would likely be unable to break through this Sealing Array like she had done previously. Not only did it look way more powerful than the last one, leagues above that one to be more precise (she would class this one as a high-quality University Tier Sealing Array whilst the other one served as more of a line between University and College Tier), but she lacked the ability to even GET to it anymore. She couldn't even enter her Devil Trigger, which had been the way she had used to destroy the last one. So, in essence, if this Sealing Array was to be a permeant type like that last one she destroyed, then it would likely mean she would NEVER be able to enter that Demon World…

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…Huh?

Just as Noire thought those previous thoughts, a piece of the Array caught her attention that she had several times merely glazed over until now. 'Wait, that part… something's off about it. The part seems like something out of a summoning circle, making it the outcast of this Array. Hmmm… Oh, I see!' Judging from what she read after it caught her gaze, Noire saw that it related to summoning, making her realize that this Array wasn't a completely impenetrable one like before. 'This Sealing Array has a condition to it! In order for it to be broken, it looks like something has to be defeated before the Sealing Array can break! Its kind of like fighting the last boss in a dungeon in order to fully conquer it in RPGs.' Noire thought, eyes widening in recognition. This thought process opened up a wide assortment of possibilities to her, though she only focused on one thought upon comprehending this discovery. One which caused her to internally groan at the revelation, a surge of annoyance and dread enveloping her brain. 'That means this damned battle isn't over yet! Ugh!'

"Keep your guard up, Lid!" the blackette called out, glancing over to said girl whilst issuing this command to her. Fortunately, Lid hadn't been using her Noble Phantasm throughout these battles, nor had she been using it since the battle with Beowulf, so that meant her energy levels hadn't been completely drained yet. Noire hoped that she could still have one use left out of it though. Upon seeing her blink in confusion, the blackette mentally groaned despite knowing the difference in knowledge of Wardcraft between them, clarified to her by telling her what she meant. "Looks like this battle isn't over yet, there's still another enemy here we need to kill."

At hearing that, Lid didn't even TRY to hide her own annoyance, her shoulders dropping whilst she released an audible sigh of frustration. "Really? Just how many Demons will we have slain when this all blows over…?" she questioned, muttering the last part under her breath. Shaking her head knowing that question didn't have any relevance, Lid then looked back up towards the Array in the skies. "Anyways, it can't be helped then. If that's the case, then where do you think the enemy is hiding? It hasn't come to attack us just yet, instead all those Demonettes came at us without warning…" she questioned, although this time Noire couldn't really answer her since he didn't know that one herself. It was true what Lid meant though, whatever Demon that had yet to be slain still seemed to be at large, although it didn't follow the attack patterns of the Demonettes.

As such, both Noire and Lid stood behind one another, back to back. Each of them got into their combat stances, readying their weapons all the while in preparation for any kind of surprise attack. On Lid's end, since most of her weaponry had expended its Ammo up to this point, it seemed pointless to waste the last of it on this one boss, her reasoning being that boss type monsters tended to be much more powerful and durable than the normal variants. Part of her even believed that the last of her energy would likely be needed to power her Noble Phantasm, that possibility being at 85% in her mind. She kept her back linked with Noire's regardless though, holding her Knife in a reverse grip whilst acutely scanning their surroundings with her lone red eye. As for her Solid Eye, she had it alternate between different vision types, checking for even the most minute signs of enemy attack. With her condition being what it was, Lid didn't doubt that any less than this would ensure a quick demise for her wakened, battered self.

On the other side of things, Noire kept an equally vigilant wit about her as she took scanned their surroundings with great intensity. Balmung held in her Sword Mistress Stance and at the ready, the blackette positioned herself so that she could react at the instant a sign of enemy attack presented itself. All this time, and through all the combat she had experienced up until this point, she had been steadily building up power within Balmung's Jewel, prepping for an immediate execution of her Noble Phantasm. Since it took time to activate, even with how much she had trained with it and fought with it in numerous battles against the Demonic Forces, Noire had decided to prepare the energy pre-emptively so she could immediately launch it at the Demon the moment it presented itself. She didn't want to beat around the bush right now, not when things were getting increasingly dire for her and that she had the problems of every Lastation citizen on her shoulder. Of course, she had anticipated the dangers of launching it inside the Temen-Ni-Gru, heck anywhere near Lastation's cities was normally a MAJOR no-no for this attack, however, Noire didn't have much of an option anymore, so she would at least TRY to aim it upwards so the explosion didn't do too much damage to the City.

And so, the two women waited…

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For a while, nothing happened, and at that point confusion and nervousness began to settle inside their chests. Lid and Noire kept their guard up sure, but the longer the silence proceeded the more uneasy and nervous they became. It just didn't make sense to them, where was the Demon? Why wasn't it coming to attack them? There were no signs of Demonic aggression coming from them that the two girls could detect with their various sensing methods, nor did there seem to be any changes within the Sealing Array. If anything, their surroundings looked completely NORMAL, and THAT unsettled them more than if their surroundings weren't all that normal.

More waiting ensued…

GUUUUUUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!

And then it happened.

A roar exploded out into their surroundings, completely dominating the atmosphere and utterly shattering the eerie silence which had once reigned supreme. The Roar shook everything, the Tower, the Bells, heck even the air itself seemed to tremble violently before its might, like an earthquake which had the potential to shake anything erupted within the earth without warning. Keeping with the theme, seismic waves of Demonic Energy surged through the air, ripping through everything in their path without mercy. Well, the Tower itself remained unaffected, as when the energy waves hit a barrier appeared over it which shielded it from the majority of the energy's impact.

Didn't shield the girls from its titanic pressure, though.

That would only be the start however, something which Noire found out the hard way when the energy slammed onto her shoulders without mercy, causing her to gasp as the pressure caught her by surprise, thus forcing her onto one knee with a violent tremble causing her body to shudder. Almost making her lose her balance too had she not put Balmung into the ground in time. "Ugh... Guh… what... is this...?" The blackette tried to say, though her voice refused to listen to her brain's commands. The pressure on her didn't help, heck it just made moving her mouth even more difficult than it needed to be, a surge of terror gripping her chest like a vice. It felt like something had begun trying to claw its way out of her torso, bursting out her ribcage like a certain alien species from those classic movies.

Even as she remained like this though... Noire quickly realized that if she were like this, then it must be WORSE for a certain silverette. That thought served to harden her heart, an expression of grim determination overtaking her features. Quickly, Noire activated her Head Spirit Bone, thus helping her fight back against this pressure invading her body. Looked like her suspicion of this being a soul related attack had been dead on the mark, cause the moment it activated the pressure on her being diminished greatly, although some of it still remained. Better than nothing in her eyes, at least. "Lid!" she called out, glancing over to the said soldier's position, fearing the worse for her. "Lid, are you okay?!"

Just as her fears told her however, the moment Noire looked at Lid she saw the sight of her unconscious on the ground, drooling whilst a... dopey looking smile which did NOT suit her character spread itself across her face. Her body trembled and shook like it was being crushed alive,, something likely trying to crush her very SOUL just like it had tried to do with Noire earlier. This state seemed eerily reminiscent of the state she had been reduced to by the Demonette's earlier... only, this felt worse, much, MUCH worse in comparison. Was it the Demon attacking them like this? Sadly, unlike Noire whom had some means of defence against shit like this, Lid was NOT as lucky, something which caused worry to explode within Noire's chest as she jogged on over to her...

BOOM!

Only, something decided now would be a GREAT time to make its entrance onto the scene. Shooting down from the heavens above so fast that its shape and appearance could not be identified, the being crashed into the top of the Tower, creating a massive smokescreen following both a wave of Demonic Energy and an impact force which sent both girls flying through the air, startled gasps escaping one of them all the while.

Knowing that there was likely going to be danger soon, Noire quickly righted herself by flipping about till she had adjusted herself into an upright position, following this up with landing on the top of the Tower a few meters away from where she had previously kneeled. Although the landing wasn't exactly smooth, since she had to dig all four of her limbs (Balmung having been separated from her by the impact force) into the Tower's peak to slow herself to a halt, just BARELY managing to do so before she could fall off the edge. Like, as in she just narrowly escaped falling down there to her death by a few inches... a close call if she ever had one, the blackette felt whilst breathing rapidly, her heart and lungs in complete chaos whilst panic-fuelled adrenaline surged through her veins. 'Whew. that was close... Not sure if I want to repeat that same experience Neptune did, but I CERTAILY don't want to have that amnesia trope stuck onto me!' she thought under this haze.

Slowly getting to her feet, Noire stumbled a few times, her limbs trembling a bit from the shock of the strain suddenly having been forced upon them. Once she got herself in the upright standing position, nearly stumbling again had she not put her arms outwards for balance, Noire slowly raised her head to look at the situation in front of her, nerves running wild inside her gut not just from the fact that a new enemy (likely the Demon) had appeared, but it had separated her from Balmung. Sure she had other swords at her disposal, but the fact that one of her strongest swords had been split from her by this pre-emptive strike rattled her brain significantly.

All that changed though, when she saw what she did, causing her eyes to shrink into dots. Fear and terror exploded once more within her chest, causing her hand to grip her chest as if clutching the head of a serpent trying to sink its fangs into her flesh... as well as quell a sudden 'surge' within her loins, something which utterly REVULTED her when she felt it.

'No... that is...'

There, standing before her with the dust from the smoke cloud fading away quicker than normal, as if its presence was so grand and divine that it didn't even DESERVE to exist near it, was something which Noire had read only in books similar to the Demonettes she had fought before. Standing before her, looked to be a being that seemed about twice as tall as the average human being, yet its form could not even be CALLED human by any stretch of the word. Staring back at her from within the dust, looked to be a pair of perfectly rounded jewel-like red eyes, eyes which exuded a sense of complete beauty and charm to the point where an entire army could have become bewitched by them. They looked like the kind of eyes one would die to preserve, and if she stared at them any longer Noire feared what she might do next so she tore her gaze away from them (much harder doing than it sounded, really) to try and disconcert any other features about the creature. Up atop its head, there looked to be a... rather stylish-looking, for it anyways, outcrop of horns which looked to have been made to look like hair.

**"AHHHHHHH... finally... WE MEET..."**

The being before her spoke, before casually sauntering out of the dust cloud and swinging its arms, dispersing the rest. This allowed Noire to notice a few... more things about the creature. For one, its movements almost looked like those of a seductive temptress, both extremely seductive as well as sinuous like any kind of desire could be made possible through its body language alone. When it moved its arms however, Noire managed to regain some form of clarity and activate her head Spirit Bone in time before she could completely fall to the desire to succumb to this creature's presence. Whilst its form remained a couple times taller than the average person, it possessed four long, delicate looking arms, yet the sheer power they exuded told Noire otherwise. Not to mention that it had a really... bovine face, complete with a fanged maw which let out a forked tongue like a sickly, manipulative serpent. Its while form, eerily reminiscent of a human save for the reverse jointed legs which ended in clawed feet, ooze this thick musk over its person that, just whiffing it seemed to be a bad idea since it began slowly stopping her thought process. Noire had to shake her head multiple times to keep the musk out of her nose in that case.

The fact that it just talked to her became the LAST thing on her mind.

"I... I know..." Noire began to say, gritting her teeth as sweat rolled down her forehead. She didn't get why, but even with her Head Spirit Bone's activation, she still felt the effects of the musk and the presence this creature had trying to invade her down to her very Soul, and she didn't like it. Still, she kept standing her ground whilst summoning Nevular into her hand, something which she noted seemed slightly harder than it had been before. "You... You're one of... Slaanesh's… Greater Demons, aren't you...?" she asked, but it felt more like a statement.

A soft, sensual laughter escaped the twisted yet delicate looking creature's maw, each one slamming into her senses like a series of strikes from a massive sledgehammer. Yet, Noire dared not drop her guard around it even if her body and mind were experiencing these difficulties. It was only because she knew this type of Demon that she had any kind of resistance prepared at all.

This Demon... It seemed to be one of Slaanesh's Greater Demons: a Keeper of Secrets, and THAT was WAY worse than anything that any number of Demonettes could ever have been.

Keepers of Secrets... These Greater Demons of Slaanesh had multiple names to them that she had read about: "Bringer of Temptation," or a "Feaster of Pain,". Embodiments of the alluring power of pleasure, the very PRESENCE of a Keeper of Secrets would have been enough to bring even the most stalwart warrior to his knees in anguish and ecstasy. Pain is simply another sensation to be bestowed upon others, or to be enjoyed when others inflict it, for all sensation is a blessing to a Keeper of Secrets. These potent servants of Slaanesh tended to feed upon the rampaging hope and the thrill of fear to be found within their enemies, as they feast upon terror and despair. As despoilers of purity, Keepers of Secrets had been known for taking the noble ideals of others and twisting them to the pursuit of selfish ambitions and self-gratification. A Keeper of Secrets exists to destroy dreams and fulfil nightmares, growing ever more powerful on the intensifying emotions of those that fight them.

As well as being peerless warriors, a Keeper of Secrets was said to possess arcane knowledge of many mystical arts. It was said that they could hear anything that was said anywhere, in any dimension, and it was this ability that earned them the moniker of "Keeper of Secrets." In the past, they were known to trade their knowledge for gifts of services. Using the secrets at their disposal they were able to weave intricate spells of misdirection and mystification, leading the weak to their inevitable doom and sending the strong on fools' errands. A Keeper of Secrets could also, and this ability Noire feared more than their knowledge, invade the souls, thoughts and senses of its enemies, penetrating their every psychic defence - sending them false visions of glory, stroking their egos and stoking their innermost desires to lead the fools astray. To corrupt those warriors who were once pure of heart and possess noble intent was the greatest of their skills, for they would inevitably turn every quest for glory into a sacrifice upon the altar of the Lord of Pleasure's perverse will.

So yeah, these things... not good if one encountered them directly or even indirectly.

**"Sooo… YOU know... of US... EHHHH?" **

Blinking when she heard the sudden voice of the Greater Demon, Noire gritted her teeth and held her defensive stance, especially when she felt something trying to poke around inside her mind from the inside. The feeling could not be described with any form of descriptive word in the vocabulary that she knew, However her Spirit Bone there quickly prevented that from happening too much, something which the Greater Demon chortled about upon discovery. She really, REALLY didn't like the sound that it made, since it both nauseated her and intrigued her at the same time, resulting in a conflict of emotion erupting inside of her that she tried to quell.

**"Interesting... for SUCH weaklings to KNOW of my KIND... even AFTER so LONG has PASSED. Curious, HOW utterly CURIOUS... perhaps THIS is WORTH INVESTIGATING further...** **AHHHH..." **

For a moment, the Keeper of Secrets hummed in thought, its hum similar to a succubus trying to entice her victim into joining her inn a dance of lustful passion, only to fall victim to her charms and be sexually tortured to death. Looking upon these two small creatures. One of them seemed like any ordinary mortal at first, easily corruptible into doing its bidding. However, upon looking closer and scanning her mind (of which she had little to no resistance, making the Greater Demon Scoff in mocking distain at how easy she would be as a plaything) revealed that there was a much deeper, much more ancient power bonded to her. A power it knew well on, as it did most mystical knowledge. She wold be no threat to it, not with how weak and shackled that power looked to be.

Then, its sinful eyes which could captivate anything which looked into them, tuned their gaze to the other creature, and in comparison this one seemed even more of a disappointment. The other an entity so weak in terms of divinity that it would have been laughable if it were interested in that kind of thing not to mention there were various other powers nesting within the deity, one of them being Demonic in origin, and right now each of them seemed to be struggling for dominance inside the deity's body, Instigated by the holiest one of all. The Keeper of Secrets knew much of this world, much of its lore and history which was both known and lost at the same time. Its mind, filled with sinuous thoughts and desires so hedonistic that just peering into it could stir yup the loins of any mortal no matter how barbaric those thoughts may seem.

Just then, the Demon's eyes glimmered, and Noire's own seemed to widen when she felt it prof at something within her mind. She tried to have the Spirit Bone activate again to repel it, but when it tried to do so its defence got shattered like glass before the Demon's mental assault, causing her to go wide eyed even further. She remembered how it could invade her like that, but she didn't think her Spirit Bone's defences would not be enough to counter it! For a moment, Noire dreaded what it was doing inside her mind even as she tried to fight back against it, however it would only take a moment before the Demon decided to retreat from her mind for the time being.

**"I SEE...! So, WE are NOT the FIRST of DEMONKIND you HAVE encountered... That APE Khorne managed to ARRIVE here FIRST... presumably. IN addition, HE has BEEN quite ACTIVE recently. NO WONDER... No WONDER why THAT MAN wants so MUCH power..."**

The Demon mused to itself, shaking its hips left and right in a sensational movement which forcefully drew Noire's attention, as much as she didn't want to. It didn't help that the musk covering its form began to seep into her being despite her best efforts, resulting in the blackette feeling a bit lightheaded , something which she knew for a FACT would only be the beginning as she stumbled slightly, struggling with all her might to remain upright and conscious. It didn't help that when she tried to call out to Siegfried in her mind, he didn't answer, their connection she realized having been forcibly suppressed by the beast before her.

'Ugh… this... this is not good...! This thing's trying to make me lose myself…!' she thought, glancing over to where Balmung lay without the Demon noticing. Her mind slowly but surely felt like it was losing the battle against the Demon's will, she could feel it in the form of the Keeper of Secrets power and mind exerting its dominance over her soul. The only reason she hadn't been doing anything right now was due to this conflict taking so much of her concentration to suppress, and even THEN these effects were slowly manifesting. 'If I don't do something soon, then...'

Once she made to burst forth to grab the blade...

**"Why DO you RUSH...?"**

"?!"

The Greater Demon spoke once more, raising its upper right arm and sending a blast of Demonic Power towards the motionless Balmung. The attack slammed into the sword without mercy, which knocked the blade into the air, landing on one of the bells on the opposite side of the Tower. That meant that if she wanted to get to the blade now, she would have to distract it long enough for her efforts to bear any fruit, or else she may face a fate... rather unbecoming for a Goddess. Looking up at the Keeper of Secrets whilst trying to keep a level head, Noire glared hatefully towards it with all the venom she could muster. She didn't even bother gracing its question with an answer, just to show her spiteful defiance to it.

**"There's NO point RESISTING... Youngling.. The END is NIGH... The LAND you GOVERN... will INEVITABLY belong... to MY MASTER in... the END... such IS the FATE... of those who ATTRACT the HARD ON of OUR chaotic MASTER..."**

Slowly, the Demon stepped towards Noire, its beady eyes narrowing down slightly towards her whilst its many arms clicked and clacked audibly. Its stomps caused the entire Temen-Ni-Gru to shake and tremble as if someone was rattling something, all the while each stomp came with a PULSE of Demonic Power, power which slammed into Noire's mind and other defences in their entirety. Gradually, each step forced Noire to take a step back as she held Nevular at the ready, quickly unleashing a LIGHTNING FANG at the beast to stop its motions. However, the Keeper of Secrets just swatted the strike aside with one of its arms, like swatting an insignificant bug. Behind it, Lid lay on the ground, twitching audibly with her mind in that of a comatose state. Perfectly rendered by the Greater Demon of Slaanesh, though it wouldn't kill her yet, not until it satisfies itself with their corpses together in one big bloody orgy of both pain and ECSTATIC PLEASURE.

**"YOU have SEEN it YOURSELF... have YOU not? YOU cannot WIN against US... nor THEM, who SEEK dominion OVER your DOMAIN... so, WHY bother? Why NOT just LET yourself GO... and ENJJOY yourself? LOVE, HATE, GREED, ENVY, WRATH, SLOTH, PRIDE, everything IS an EXPRESSION of DESIRE in the END... Just REST... and LEAVE everything TO my MASTER... for HE will ENSURE your ETERNAL bliss... be FREE and LET LOOSE what LIES within YOUR heart..." **

Once again, the more the Keeper of Secrets spoke, the more the sweet, seductive words of the serpent began to win the struggle for dominance over Noire's mind. Her body weakened gradually the more she listened to those words, as much as she tried to block them out. At this point, the Spirit Bone's power to suppress the invasion of her soul by this foreign Demonic Power began to wane, the constant battering of its defences by the Greater Demon like dozens of long thin spires repeatedly impaling it over and over. Veins pulsed over her mind as Noire fought like a deity possessed to keep herself from succumbing to the sweet allure of blissful sleep, unable to move as much as she could before thanks to all the effort being directed at preserving herself. She did manage to idly glance over at the unconscious lid through one eye, the other having been tightly shut from the strain.

If that wasn't enough however, the more the Demon spoke images and visions began to assault her mind.

* * *

Images of herself ruling her people fairly and justly, filled with the strength of the people's faith. There weren't any Abnormals, nor any threats to her people's safety, nor were there any problems arising within the Government. Seeing all this in her mind, despite her instincts telling her otherwise, spread a small hopeful smile onto her face. Everything looked peaceful... until it suddenly wasn't with the scenery always changing into one hellish nightmare to another for her.

'N-No...!'

What was once a bustling, utopia-like City soon shifted as if it were an illusion, shimmering out of existence to be replaced with a whole new, darker sight. A sight Noire saw as the worst of her fears being realized. She saw Lastation not as a bustling metropolis, but a desecrated, war-torn land filled to the brim with Demons, Monsters and the like. Countless eldritch horrors and abominations whilst the citizens got used like cattle in a farm for the monster's pleasure (women mostly) and entertainment (men). The buildings, once pristine and beautiful became mere shadows of their former selves, unable to even be recognized by the viewing CPU. Then, she saw the Basilicom, now filled to the brim with monsters and Demons alike, with the top portion of it having been turned into this twisted, horrific throne type structure made from countless dead bodies, blood and guts hanging out in the most disgusting ways possible.

On top of that throne though, was NOT a Demon, NOT an Abnormal, heck not even any member of Avenir or any of the officials vying for the top positions in Lastation's Government...

But Noire herself, clad in her Devil Trigger Form and looking upon the destruction she'd caused her Nation with a massive smile on her face, pride and joy shining from her demonic-looking eyes.

* * *

Everything then switched to another vision, one of a similarly looking city shaped like Lastation as the one before... only it shifted into something else entirely even faster than the previous vision.

In THIS one, the entire land became bustling with no small amount of prostitute camps, pleasure dens, and all kinds of debauchery and excess ecstasy that it would scar even the most experience of warriors for life, making them want to hide in the deepest darkest corners of the world to wash the sights from their minds. Buildings turned into ones of all kinds of sex toys, some of them she hadn't even seen before and did NOT have the desire to experience them herself. All kinds of messed up tings went on within this alternate version of Lastation, with Demonettes howling and shrieking whilst they tortured, raped and killed as they pleased with her citizens. Some used sex toys wildly and furiously, others kept whispering soft things into their victims' ears to manipulate them into doing unholy acts of self-desecration and mutilation, whilst some partook in every kind of sexual act imaginable and MORE. All of them even looked like they were ENJOYING it too, even the ones who lay dying at the feet of the Demons, women being used as tools for pleasure by the masculine-looking Demons whilst the same could be said for the men and Demonette's. Everything looked like one big bloody mess of an orgy, with the skies having turned dark violet with clouds of mind-dulling musk filling the city and its surroundings. Drugs got spread through the city like wildfire, being used only to heighten the euphoric pleasure which the Demons, monsters and citizens engaged in readily.

Yet, atop the Basilicom there was Noire, clad in barely anything, being pleasured by what she could only assume to be a young male. His features looked to be ever changing, from a shota type boy to an elderly man and all kinds of things, this ever-changing male seemed to be giving her other self... was that really her other self...? Anyways, the male looked to be groping and pleasuring her other self like nothing was holding him back, utterly ravishing her body and repeating her like a cheap whore, practically becoming a bunch of Demons to joining the mix out of his own whims.

* * *

More visions similar to these one assaulted her without mercy, sent into her by the incoming Greater Demon of Slaanesh, to the point where she had fallen onto both her knees in an unstable Japanese sitting position. Her body inside kept shivering and trembling as she held herself, Nevular having vanished into her Inventory again whilst she gazed down at the ground. Her features looked to be a mixture of both fear and desire, with her eyes trembling violently whilst her teeth gritted themselves so hard that they could have snapped at any time... then, there was the massive DROOL which fell from the corners of her lips and the massively flushed cheeks she sported, all kinds of perverted, degrading things playing themselves through her mind without stop, eroding what little self control Noire DESPERATELY fought t to maintain. Her eyes had long since erupted into rivers of tears similar to how her mouth released its drool, although whether these tears came from pain, pleasure or both remained unknown... not like it mattered anymore, since she looked to have become trapped in her own little world.

As for the cause of all this...

**"YEEESSSSSS... her MIND is BROKEN...!"**

The Greater Demon of Slaanesh grinned in a sickly, twisted kind of pleased manner, it's forked tongue licking away at its maw as if it had lips whilst hunger and desire burned within it. The desire which embodied it upon its creation by its incredibly fickle master. Its attacks had worked on her, just like it had suspected they would. its own mental strikes at her psyche, its words which cut into her being like vicious blades, had succeeded in what it had intended from the very beginning: rendering the pathetic bug of a deity absolutely shattered and unable to strike it down.

Yes, this was the way to go, it felt as it stood before the downed CPU, its arms raising themselves upwards. The way of things was to engage in every kind of sin imaginable, and yet a Keeper of Secrets is a highly intelligent creature, a being whose silvered words and languid gestures belie its true power. They were claimed as the most entrancing of all immortals, and that to look upon one was to surrender every last shred of self-will. Perhaps this one being a deity, albeit a weakling one, attributed to her surprising resistance to its words at the beginning, but alas all things fall to sin eventually, and right now looked to be this one's turn.

With its arms raised upwards, the Keeper began to charge them up with Demonic Energy for the final kill, knowing that even with her state of being, her body will need an excess amount for its base weapons to take effect on her. That and it wanted to paint a nice picture of a couple dicks joined together from this slut's life liquid, a mesmerising sight which nearly made it drool. The Lower arms, which ended in elongated crab claws which FAR surpassed those of a Demonette in size and length, lit up in various coloured hues, most of them falling under the purple coloured spectrum. Those hues ended up making the Claws look even larger than they normally should be, energy crackling along their forms and leaping off them into the surrounding atmosphere. The energy's presence surged through the air violently, creating a heavy cloud of pressure which dominated the immediate surroundings...

Yet the blackette didn't even flinch nor even make any response to indicate her even noticing this phenomenon.

**"FOOLISH deity... to FALL for SIN is nature's FINEST gift... NOW, die... without further DELAY!"**

Without anything else to say to this defeated opponent before it could even pose a threat, the Greater Demon of Slaanesh brought all four arms down onto Noire's kneeling form, intent on skewering her and painting the ground red with her delectable blood...

That is, until a bright light enveloped her and blew the Demon back.

* * *

**Chapter End**

**A cliffhanger! Man its been a while since I did one of those. **

**Anyways, everyone, here's the climax, well one of them anyways. Soon, the thing I've been building up to will have the time to shine that I've SO been waiting for! This will be one exciting next chapter, I'll give you that! **

**Now. about the Greater Demon of Slaanesh. Its not really any named one, nor is it one of the more notable Greater Demons belonging to the Chaos Gods. Its just an average Greater Demon, but even so Noire's abilities aren't enough to defeat it. Remember how in the main story she had trouble defeating a single BLOODTHIRSTER? A Greater Demon of Khorne? She may have learned about them through reading about them, but that is FAR from enough to actually be able to take one down. She may have had some soul defence from her Head Spirit Bone, but that is NOTHING which a Greater Demon can't handle, especially one so connected to desire like a Keeper of Secrets. They're pretty much the seductive, manipulative serpent from the Adam and Eve story if you ask me... only much, much worse. If anything, the only thing she could do with that thing is to pretty much slow down the process, and even that is temporary. Right now, Noire doesn't have NEARLY the kind of power needed to fight off a Greater Demon on her own, since Lid has been knocked out by the Keeper of Secrets, but that WILL change I assure you. She's not going down THAT path, oh no, I can already imagine what the fans would think if that happened. **

**Anyways, hope you liked the chapter, and I'll see you on the next one. **

**Peace Out!**


	33. Chapter 33 - What the hell?

**Chapter 33 - What the hell?**

What… what was all this?!

The Keeper of Secrets, once it regained its wits about it following the abrupt repelling from that light, yelled within its mind. For once, thoughts of perverse desire and the sweet thrills of seeing victims screaming in agony halted within its circuits whilst it slid along the ground, ending up stopping at the opposite side of the peak. It wasn't as simple as that either, for its two feet left huge skid marks in their wake, leaving behind this singing sensation from the sudden strain they had been put under as well. Not to mention that the previous eruption of light managed to leave behind some… nasty marks on its body.

From the moment that it halted, did the Greater Demon finally notice this fact, as it had been focused too much on stopping its motion that it ignored the rest of its body's situation. Sizzling sounds alerted the Demon to several areas of its body along with those areas sending signals of searing pain up into its demonic brain. First off, the area in the middle of its torso had a huge burn mark over it, one at least the size of 4 basketballs smashed together to form a makeshift rhombus, thin trails of smoke rising up from around it which caused major surges of agitation to flow through the Keeper of Secrets. If that wasn't enough, similar marks and steam trails formed over its' shoulders, some smaller than others but none of them going unnoticed. Though, out of all of them, the biggest one by far remained the one on its torso, as well as the one which stung the most… made sense, considering that area had been one of the closest bodyparts to that brief eruption of light earlier. It could only count it's lucky stars that it had managed to reinforce its offending limbs defensively at the last second out of instinct, otherwise it feared that it could have lost all four of its limbs.

What the heck was that light? The forefront of its mind processed that question first as the Greater Demon wracked its brain for any kind of clue to what kind of magic trick or mystic art that Noire had just used moments before her timely demise. Whilst it remained relatively new in comparison to the rest of its brethren back home, the Greater Demon couldn't be called weak by any means. It had yet to conquer more than a dozen worlds yet, but it had been getting there, this one would have made the 15th one it had been able to emerge into. If it had played its cards right, then it would have added this one to the list for its glorious, sin-loving master. Still, the fact that its lack of experience in warfare came to bite it in the ass almost made it moan in delight, trembling in pleasure both from this scenario as well as the pain it found itself being showered in.

This pain…

This unforeseen circumstance…

If it could take out Noire despite this setback, who knows how much its reputation would rise through the Demonic Ranks!

With desire and lust for delicious combat filling its mind, the Demon let its tongue hang out from its maw, its beady eyes narrowing whilst it glowered towards the immobile black-haired Goddess… whom it now noticed several irregularities beginning to occur. One, the woman now had this brilliant, dazzling golden aura seeping from every pore of her flesh, coating her like a protective barrier. Second, the Keeper of Secrets sensed the damage it had inflicted both on her Soul (that pathetic excuse of a defence almost made it orgasm in euphoria when it had shattered it before so much) and her mind had begun to slowly be repaired. It wasn't exactly smooth sailing for her soul in comparison to her mind though, since most of its attacks, AKA those visions, got dragged violently out of her Soul, greatly damaging it. They were what she feared most after all, something the Greater Demon had exploited against her to secure an easy access point into this world. Three, from Noire back, a series of pure white angelic-looking wings made from light exploded forth, matching the size of a hand gliders. They kept themselves tucked in behind her currently, whilst her main weapon turned out to be one with that glowing core-like thing… oh yeah, the Ashbringer, that was its name, it had slipped the Greater Demon's mind, having only heard of that sword about 500 years ago.

'If that sword is the same as it was back then… no, this slutty bitch won't be able to use it to that extent, she's too incompetent, trying to hold back her desires like she is…' The Keeper of Secrets thought, spreading its limbs out. Whilst its healing took longer than normal to take care of its burns, the demonic being didn't care as it summoned forth two swords for its upper arms to hold. Both swords looked completely identical the moment they spawned from within a vortex of Demonic Power, landing into the waiting Greater Demon's hands, easily the length of Longswords. Each of them radiated a dark, violent and chaotic aura of energy over their blades, with countless screaming echoes seemingly trying to escape from them to no avail. 'Witstealer Swords, one of my favourite sex toys, in my eyes. Able to slice away at the opponent's mind and body at the same time, reducing them to mindless husks for me to steal their souls easier. Also good for foreplay if the victims into anal…' the Greater Demon thought.

Not a second afterwards did the glowing Noire take a single step forwards, causing the ground where her foot had stepped on to become a 4-foot large and wide crater, with 6-meter-long cracks forming over the tower's peak from the crater's source. This caused the Greater Demon to balk, as its senses picked up ABSURD amounts of energy coming forth from the slut of a Goddess, something which completely baffled the creature. It had no time to think on this new scenario however, as the woman's new white light wings unfolded, spreading out behind her before they made a single flapping motion… and the Blackette appeared right before it in the next second.

Reverse swinging that sword, the Greater Demon quickly raised its own Witstealer Sword to block it when its instincts screamed at it to do so. Good thing too, because the force, weight, power and impact behind that one swing alone nearly sent it flying upon their two blades meeting. 'Guh?!' the Demon exclaimed mentally whilst it flew backwards, though it quickly regained itself and flipped backwards to adjust its centre of gravity. Not allowing it to have much reprieve, if any, the blackette bent her legs, flapping her wings whilst jumping at the same time, resulting in her being propelled forwards towards it…

And cleaving off one of the creature's lower arms.

"GUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH?!"

Shock and pain filled the screaming Keeper of Secrets' senses when it felt the sudden loss of its lower left limb, the stump quickly cauterizing itself by its will to stem any blood loss. Whilst that happened, it quickly twisted itself around, glancing at its severed limb to see it coursing with Light energy which pretty much turned it into charcoal in seconds. 'What… is this?!' it mentally shrieked. 'This energy…! It feels similar to that blind old oaf light Demon's power inside this damn Tower, but much worse! If I let that hit me…!' it thought, jumping backwards a few times till it reached the opposite side of the peak. Fortunately, when it looked at the enemy whilst sliding to a halt, the Greater Demon noticed that she didn't move again to attack it whilst it had been in mid-motion.

'Something is not right here…' it realized, narrowing its beady eyes as Demonic Power pushed itself through the cauterized stump, creating a mini dust cloud whilst trying to create a new limb. 'This feeble deity… she didn't have this kind of power before… no wait, that's not right. Its more like she DID, but its been contesting the other powers lying within her. Right now, if I focus my senses… the others seem to have become subservient to this power! Now that I get a feel of it, it actually feels like this power was what caused this feeble fool's condition in the first place! Is there… something going on?' It wondered, holding both Witstealer swords at the ready whilst getting into a battle stance. Its began to glow brightly like flickering embers in the night, its form unleashing the wild and untameable Demonic Power within. 'In the end it does not matter… this slut's soul will belong to me and my master soon enough, anyways!' It yelled, insanity and psychotic desire bigger than a thousand lustful rapists brimming within its eyes as it held its tongue out.

**"****Your POWER matters NOT young DEITY… it WILL only FAIL you IN the END… now… LET ME EAT YOOOOUUUUUUUU!"**

What followed next… would only be considered the beginning of... one ENLIGHTENING round 2.

* * *

Warmth…

Pure, unfiltered warmth...

That would be the only thing which she could describe the feeling which currently bathed her body. She couldn't recall when this happened, in fact, she couldn't really recall much of what she had been doing previously, if she had even been doing anything at all. That to her, felt surreal and strange, normally one would remember what they did in recent times, but somehow, she didn't. It felt like, whenever she tried to remember what her previous situation had been, she would subconsciously shy away from it, like it had been so bad that she didn't EVER want to remember it. In any normal situation, she would have been stunned or a little afraid, but the warmth covering her form just derailed those notions. She may not recall when this had happened to her, but one thing was for certain in her mind. That was the fact that it had, and boy did she feel beyond grateful for the feeling. During the time she tried to remember her previous situation, she did managed to make out the memory of being put under so much pain, horror, mortification and disgust earlier, though she couldn't recall WHY she had been under those emotions.

Though, she guessed it didn't exactly matter at this point, not with this warmth her body seemed to be submerged under. Moans, moans which she soon realized came from her own mouth, filled her surroundings. These moans were ones filled with pleasure and bliss, a testament to how much she enjoyed the current feelings coursing through her body like blood through veins. She didn't want to leave it, plain and simple, for this warmth felt like the best thing she had ever felt, akin to a mother's warm embrace, protective as if it would shield her from all her worries so she could live her life freely. This, bright warmth similar to bathing on a beach somewhere filled every fibre of her being, every cell, every atom to the point where nothing within her had been touched by its gentle embrace. Her mind no longer felt itself troubled by anything and everything with her very soul feeling like it had just laid itself down on a nice piece of land to rest its weary, battle-drained form.

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

But wait, wasn't there something she needed to do? For a brief moment, she began to wonder as a flash of something went through her mind. She didn't know why, but something unsettling began to settle in her stomach, the warmth covering her quickly turning vicious to try and stomp it out. However, this feeling continued to nag at her and support this unsettling sensation, to the point where her nose twitched as she stopped moaning, instead proceeding to shift herself uncomfortably like a slithering worm. WIGGLE-WIGGLE-WIGGLE… that's how her body moved about… kind of like that song revolving around wiggling a certain part of the body, though which one she couldn't really recall right now. No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't shake this strange feeling… the feeling of needing to wake up as soon as possible and get back out there… but why?

…

…

…

…

…

…

…Wait… oh, OH!

Soon, her eyes shot open wide with a surge of clarity exploding from within, a gasp of realization tearing itself from her lips. That's right! She needed to get back, she needed to get back immediately! There was no time for her to wait around in this comforting place, she had to get back to save Lid! Her people needed her; she couldn't let them down! How could she call herself their leader, their ruler and guardian, if she just lay in her own blissful paradise whilst all of them remained suffering under constant torment?! No, more importantly, how could she even call herself a good PERSON who just sat here doing nothing whilst her important things were being threatened by an outside party?! She wouldn't stand for BS like that, nope, that was NOT her style, not one bit! She couldn't stay here any longer, she had to go right now! Everyone counted on her to win against these damned odds, she'll not let them down again like she did before!

* * *

"#GASP#!"

A loud gasp tore itself free from Noire's lips as her consciousness finally awoken 100%, allowing her to view her surroundings once she got her unsteady breathing back in order. During that time, memories of what had happened to her previously began to return to her, filling her mind. She remembered everything all at once, from the start of her troubles with hat Abnormal Dungeon, the emergence of the Temen-Ni-Gru, all the way to the emergence of that Keeper of Secrets which had proceeded to royally screw her over in terms of the mind rather than the body, her soul as well. 'That damned Demon… He freaking played me like fiddle! Humiliated me in such a manner! Oh, he's pissed me off for the last time! I'll get back now and utterly SHRED that thing's testicles off to spear it with them! I'll rip out its innards and feed it them!' Noire screeched in her mind as flames of fury erupted within her, filling her with the desire for vengeance.

Finally, she calmed herself down by taking a few breaths, closing her eyes to help clear her mind of those previous thoughts for the time being. Being furious with that bastard Keeper of Secrets was all well and good, but she wouldn't let it consume her entirely. Nothing would stop her from exercising her vengeance, but she wasn't some rageaholic like some people she knew, she actually PLANNED for things like that. Fortunately for her though, all she needed to do would be to get out of this place and back to the Temen-Ni-Gru for now, since that was where the Greater Demon of Slaanesh was located.

But, the first question which came to mind…

Was where the heck her current location even WAS.

Looking around the vicinity whilst getting to her feet, Noire tried to ascertain her current location…. And utterly failed, miserably at that. All she could se around her was this golden colour, kind of like a void but instead of just blackness gold replaced it. This void also seemed to carry the occasional white light which shone brightly in the distant surroundings, as if they were silhouettes or illusions. The whole scene looked like some kind of practice depiction of Celestia, since the peaceful tranquillity she felt here reminded her of that place immensely, though something about this place caught Noire's attention. Her eyes narrowed whilst shifting her head about, trying to find more visuals to detail this place, but not finding much. Though, the thing that caught her attention wasn't that. In fact, it was that throughout the air, Noire's senses picked up copious amounts of holy energy, if not divine feeling due to how similar to Share Energy it felt like.

'Why… why does this remind me of…?'

"At last, you are awake. For a young warrior, I see several mans in which you can improve your current physical condition."

"?!"

Suddenly, she heard a man's voice talking to her, and judging from the volume it didn't seem like his location would be that far away. At least close enough to where she would be able to see him if she looked, Whirling around faster than Noire could blink, her hair flipping about from the instantaneous and erratic motions, Noire turned to where she guessed the direction the voice came from… and then came face to face with the one who spoke. The moment she saw the speaker, the first thing which entered her mind turned out to be… warrior.

Standing before her, was what could only be described by a warrior loved by the light itself. He stood at a similar height to Vert, but with a muscular build which quickly expressed how much battle experience he possessed, especially regarding large swords. The man looked to be in his mid to late forties, with his hair being a lustrous ginger colour with a few white streaks here and there to further showcase his old age. He had a matching beard and moustache. His eyes, brown like chocolate, had a weary, battered look to them like those warriors whom had lived through countless life or death battles, to the point where they would actively seek death rather than try to avoid it. Noire had seen people like that many times since her return to Celestia, most of them tired of living in the current world which revolve around constant conflict, some even being this way due to massive trauma. As for apparel, the man wore what looked to be some kind of white cloth-like clothing, one which had this religious feel to it though she didn't think it was ANYTHING like the standard robes the Basilicom staff in the four Nations wore. This white cloth outfit covered his entire frame, she felt like, as some parts of his body got concealed by these large, dark blue pieces of armour which covered his shoulders, arms, legs, hands and feet. From his being, radiated a pure holy aura which flared around him like a living flame, swaying from one side to another in a calm, yet resolute, manner. This light also shone around his brown eyes, with tendrils of light breaking forth from the light aura into the surrounding void.

The man stood before her as if he stood on an invisible surface, something which Noire discovered had been the same case for her too, though how long that had been so or if it had been that way from the beginning, she wasn't so sure on. However, that didn't register as important for her at the current time, instead she focused MORE on the man's identity. "And you are…?" she questioned.

"I am someone whom has long since passed, yet my legacy lives on with my sword. I believe your quite familiar with it, given how much you relied on its powers to heal yourself of grievous wounds." The man responded as he stood there, eyeing Noire with an unreadable expression. Not to mention with their difference in elevation, the invisible space he stood being slightly higher than hers, made it so that he looked down on her, something which gradually started to annoy the blackette. She didn't like the thought of ANYONE looking down on her, she hated it with a passion, every enemy who'd ever looked down on her like this usually got the boot in the end, and if this guy turned out to be an enemy she would repeat that cycle without hesitation. She had to get back to her people, after all.

Still, what he said quickly grabbed her attention, especially the part where he mentioned her having relied on something's powers to heal herself. Upon thinking about it, combined with the aura he emitted and the sensations she got from him, Noire could only think of ONE weapon of which the man could be implying her intimacy with. Her eyes widened in surprise, her surprise taking away her gradually increasing annoyance from before and causing her to step backwards a couple times, mentally doing several double takes at the revelation. "You mean…?"

Before she could finish, the man nodded his head and continued from where he left off. "You would be correct in your deductions, youngling. I am indeed a wielder of Ashbringer, your predecessor. I am Alexandros Mograine, in addition it pleases me to see that your mind is faring better than your soul at the moment for the time being at least…" The man explained, prompting Noire to gasp when she remembered the battle (read: one sided beatdown) of the soul she got from that Greater Demon. "I am unsure whether to call you lucky or unlucky, for you to meet such a foe with insufficient defences set in place for its mental and soul attacks."

"What are you talking about, I had some defence! I read up on it, my Spirit Bone should have-"

"It is insufficient." The man responded, shaking his head and cutting Noire's speech off, much to her annoyance. However, it got outweighed by the words the man, Mograine, had said to her. Words which continued to spill out of his mouth with his expression unreadable. "That Spirit Bone may defend your Soul but compared to this enemy its power is significantly weaker. Too weak in fact, if you were to fight one of the more notable Greater Demons of the Chaos Gods let alone the Demon Princes, you would be… DEAD before you even hit the ground. Also, it appears this Greater Demon possesses experience with breaking through soul defences, since it didn't hold nearly as long as it should have. The fact that I was able to even save this much of you is a miracle even in of itself." Mograine remarked, his eyes shifting downwards towards Noire's torso. "Take a look at yourself and tell me what you see."

'Eh?' Noire blinked once, then again, and again, the statement which Mograine gave her not completely registering within her mind. For a couple seconds this state of confusion persisted, until she looked down at herself like the man told her to do. Once she did, she QUICKLY saw just what the man had been talking about, her flesh paling as if all her blood had suddenly vanished from every vein in her body. "Wh-Wh-Wh-Wh-What the heck?!" she screamed out, fear and shock forming in her eyes.

When she looked down, she could COMPLETELY see through herself, as in her entire body were nothing but an illusion this entire time. She tried to slap her stomach, only for her hand to travel through it, and worse still afterwards something about her hand caught her attention. Raising it to her eye level, the blackette saw it flickering in and out, as if it were losing its form entirely. What the hell, what was all this? She hoped Siegfried would have come in and gave a timely answer to these questions she had popping into her mind faster than Vert when she hears of a new BL Game. However, she got nothing, only silence prevailing within the depths of her mind, making her eyes shine with worry all the more… more for Siegfried than anything else.

"Do not be concerned with that being, he is merely slumbering at the moment, as is that… thing…" Mograine began, before grimacing and adopting a disgusted expression at the end. Noire had a pretty good idea on why he did that though, not to mention his words caused her to turn her attention back to him, her eyes practically screaming to know more. Seeing this, the man shook his head and continued. "Do not think that I condone the use of that creature, if things were different, I would have gladly purged that wretched abomination out of you immediately…" He stated, his eyes flashing with a well-veiled flame of rage igniting within those orbs of his. "However, since he is so interconnected to what remains of your Soul and has played a part in strengthening you for these battles, simply rendering him comatose like that other being will be the extent of my mercy. Instead, just know that they have been placed into a protective slumber as a means of saving their lives, although that in of itself would be a miracle considering how close you came to completely losing your Soul to this Demon." He told her.

"Eh?"

When she heard his words, Noire furrowed her brows, feeling no small amount of conflict about them. For one thing, the fact that this person held an extreme distaste for her Appetite Demon made sense to her. It had taken a moment for her to realize it due to the current problems she faced, as well as the clearly severe potential for her Soul to be destroyed, but once she realized it… shock could only BEGIN to describe the emotions she felt inside. This man, Mograine, not only was a past wielder of Ashbringer, but also the ORIGINAL wielder of the blade. She remembered talking to Nico about it, about how the sword had great power when used against Demons, however he must have forgotten to mention that it also was just as effective on anything non-human, she'd seen this first-hand when fighting Abnormals. Made sense in a way, since it was forged during a time where pretty much everything non-human wanted to eat humanity for lunch, which also helped explain why it didn't like to be used whenever she was using another power from something non-human. Heroic Spirits must have been an exception though, but then again that made sense too since Heroic Spirits were 'mostly' fierce humanoid warriors with few exceptions. Anyways, the point here pretty much got summarized as him and Ashbringer hating anything non-human from past experiences, something which has influenced the nigh-sentient blade.

On the other hand, Noire definitely admitted that the Demonic Powers she had now definitely had a strong helping hand in getting her this far, making it much easier to fight these Demons. To fight a monster, you need a monster of your own, that train of thought had been quite prominent throughout Gamindustri, one could see dozens of examples of it everywhere. Therefore, despite Rik being a bit of a dick to her, no doubt about that (she hadn't forgotten how he treated the thought of training her only after she had 'proven' herself, or how blunt and rude he usually was), he had still helped her out majorly in fighting her opponents.

Upon seeing the conflicted expression that Noire sported after his words, Mograine sighed before he continued his explanation. "You have sustained severe damage, youngling, the fact that you're in this state whilst in my world is all the proof we need. In fact, if I hadn't acted sooner, then you would have been nothing but a tormented slave to these so-called Chaos Gods for eternity, never allowed to rest and tortured with unspeakable horrors done to you. Ones which make murder, rape, the worst crimes of humanity look like petty child tantrums in comparison." He said.

"Yeah, I get that you don't need to be so elaborate with me." Noire eventually responded in a mix of frustration at him for not getting to the main point sooner, and anger to herself for letting something like this happen in the first place. She had so much riding on her, and if this guy hadn't saved her at the last moment then all of that would have been destroyed and it'd have been all her fault. Her mind struggled to accept such a twisted outcome at first, until she remembered something and focused on that instead. Lest she lose what sanity she had left with all this demonic shit going down and messing with her head. "Wait, since you saved me and your kind of linked to the Ashbringer, mind telling me why its been acting up?"

For a moment, Mograine didn't respond, instead he looked like he had been distracted by something as evident by the slightly dazed look overtaking his eyes. Noire wondered what he could be thinking, as despite how she had good ways for reading people, especially politicians who try to remain poker faced, she couldn't read a single THING about this guy. It sort of made her anxious and irritated that he wasn't focusing solely on her, but then again, she rationalized that he had things going on with his side of things that she wasn't privy to. She had lots to ask him about once this had been concluded, it seemed to her, questions she really wanted to ask as soon as possible. Finally, however, he returned to focus his attention back on her, but instead of just straight up answering her however, Mograine held his hand out, conjuring something from a bright light and then tossing it to her. "Instead of just giving them to you, prove yourself worthy of those answers with your actions. Show me your bravery, your determination and your volor." The man demanded, before that same hand which had chucked that object then summoned something she immediately recognized:

Ashbringer.

* * *

Meanwhile outside...

Carnage...

its surroundings could only be described as such.

Clad in an aura of Demonic Power, a mystic art it had developed by stealing the principals from some world it Conquered for its fickle lord by making them engage in a violent, planet wide sex orgy, the Keeper of Secrets floated in the midst of chaos. Its Witstealer Swords rung with silent cries of pleasure and agony, crackling auras and violent energies coursing over the blades like wild vipers. The energies whipped forth, snapping at the space surrounding them whilst its claws kept shimmering in and out of existence, a special martial technique it knew which manipulated space and time itself to make them like saws going in between different planes of existence. Up above it, the chaotic storm which constantly boomed with thunder and lightning got all the more violent the more the Greater Demon grew increasingly agitated.

Agitated towards the one whom had yet to fall into the grasp of Chaos.

All around it, flashes of light could be seen as it flew about at high speeds, clashing with this new and improved deity so fast that it looked like there were multiple of them. One second the two of them would be in one space, and the next they would have clashed at over 10 different spaces above the Temen-Ni-Gru. In some cases, the blackette would go for ranged attacks by launching dozens of hammers made from Light energy at once, launching them like a machine gun which it would just deflect or outright destroy. Although the deflecting option proved more effective as the moment it accidentally touched one with it's elbow, it had to form an entirely new one since the light energy pulverized it to nothingness. Other times, the female slut would keep toc lose quarters combat, constantly using all kinds of sword techniques against it which were mixed with using those wings of hers as shields to defend against it's attacks.

Within another second, a flash appeared before it and the body of Noire, clad in that aura with those pure angelic wings of hers, swinging the Ashbringer upwards to try an cleave it in half. Strafing back and avoiding the swing, the Greater Demon then twisted itself a full 360 degrees to avoid a wave of Light which got released from the sword, one which got sent flying across the continent and out into the distance. If that had hit her city, then the destruction would have been cataclysmic if anyone were to try and gauge it's power levels. Using the momentum of its swing, the Greater Demon scowled as it released a mighty roar, swinging a Witstealer Sword at Noire's head whilst also launching a thrust towards her abdomen with one of it's Claws. Just as it predicted though, the blackette then vanished in a flash of light, and it quickly turned around to block a strike towards the nape of its neck with both Witstealer Swords, Demonic and Holy Energies erupting from both blades into their surrounding airspace. fortunately, the Holy energy did the same as the streaks from Noire in her first clash with Vicious had, knocking away the Demonic energy from SONY.

Even in this state, the slut dared to think she could fight it whilst worrying for this cesspool of a Nation.

However, this clash reminded it that the greatest weapon for her, as well as the biggest annoyance for it, was that the speed that this deity now possessed had become absolutely broken. If had become a far cry compared to its previous levels, at least that was what it felt since it had only watched the slut and her fellow whore fight its sex slave minions. Her speed had reached a level where it could be comparable to moving at light speed, it felt, and the only reason why it had managed to predict where she would have ended up was due to another thing it had noticed about her... her attack patterns.

They eerily reminded it of a machine, something which became even more solid in the Greater Demon's mind when it tried to invade her mind again out of frustration, forgetting about the potential risks of doing so with the slut in her current condition. However, it paid off, since the moment the Keeper of Secrets did so, it soon saw how... empty her mind had become, there were no thoughts running through her mind, none of the previous wild fantasies and hidden desires it had exploited to break her in every manner possible. As a result, though, it managed to learn her attack patterns, predict where she would end up as she always stuck to those patterns as if they were rules or protocols installed within her being by some unseen force. A force which it suspected to be that mysterious Sword in her hand, for it could sense that something was off about it the moment this whole transformation began. Sexual fantasies it had about using that sword to please its master or torment helpless victim's aside, every fibre in its being SCREAMED at it to not let that blade touch it, not even with its claws and the martial technique it used on them.

No longer was it able to think further, as through a surge of strength which caught it off guard, the Keeper of Secrets howled when the empowered Noire pushed it back, sending it flying across to the opposite side of the air space. Whilst that happened, the blackette soullessly raised her Ashbringer, its core beginning to shine brightly with the power of holy energy as many hammers formed around her, before she pointed her Ashbringer at the Greater Demon. As a result, every Hammer flung itself towards its position, spinning through the air like wheels to gain better momentum for its final smash onto its person. Not like the Demon would let that happen though, as it quickly crossed it's arms in front of itself, then uncrossed them in an X shaped manner, launching two large crescent waves of Demonic Power towards the targets. The X Slash wave slammed into the barrage of Light Hammers in the following second, blowing through them like they were balloons after a brief pause between them...

Though it didn't hit Noire one bit, something which it expected but didn't get any less triggered from, as the blackette appeared before it and swung downwards in a diagonal angle. It blocked the swing by crossing it's Witstealer Swords together in an X fashion like before, only to start strafing back to get some distance. Seeing this, the embodied Noire flew off after it, Ashbringer pulsating with energy as she swung the blade upwards, which got blocked by the Greater Demon, only for her to twist around a couple claw swings meant to run her through and swing her blade diagonally downwards to hit its right shoulder down to the left hip. The Greater Demon dodged that one, but Noire followed up with multiple thrusts, large swings, all kinds of holy light reinforced strikes, it gave the Keeper of Secrets no time to respond. Not even its natural offense and defences were enough to hold her back in this current state of mind.

As it blocked, parried and defenced with the occasional attack from it's claws, the Greater Demon had only one thing on its mind:

That this was a shit day to be it... and its perverse desires actually made it quiver at the notion.

* * *

**Play OST - Fate/Apocrypha** **BGM - Battle Theme**

'Ugh, SERIOUSLY?! He wants to fight me NOW of all times?!' Noire screeched in her mind, wanting to just curse how men seemed to be so intent on not being direct with anything and instead just rushing ahead into battle like a bunch of primitive apes. It frustrated her to no end, but then again… 'Well, its not like I'm that much different, am I…?' Noire remarked mentally, her frustration giving way to a sense of acceptance and, deeper down, a bubbling excitement. Clutching the object in her hand, Noire glanced at it and noticed that it was a double edged, straight bladed longsword. Nothing too stylish or ornamental about it, just a simple longsword which could be held in one hand or two. Its simplicity shone brightly in her eyes, something which deeply contrasted the various other weapons in her arsenal. Getting into her Sword Mistress stance, Noire let out a small smirk as she eyed her incoming opponent, already blocking the first clash the millisecond she had finished.

Breaking away from each other, both offending parties flipped backwards, landing with a distance of 20 meters between them. Both of them landed on a large, ovular sized platform made entirely of light, one which had formed beneath them whilst they had been flipping mid-air, reaching about 60 meters in height and 40 in width. Once the two landed, both of them once more charged back to clash again, intending on creating a freaking festival filled with nothing but the sounds of colliding metal and flesh being torn from bodyparts. Should there have been solid dirt or some other material than light, then there would have been small dust clouds brought up by their sudden movements.

Just before they could clash again, a little change happened at the last moment, featuring the blackette at the centre. That change? Whelp, it started when Mograine's eyes twitched ever so slightly as Noire stomped on the ground with her right foot, then hopped to the side just as he swung is sword to decapitate her. Stomping again, Noire caught her balance and ricocheted right back to him, ending up at his side where she reverse swung horizontally towards his neck.

However, Mograine didn't waste time deliberating this manoeuvre, and instead twisted himself around and blocked her blow with his own sword. Twiasting their weapons about, the mane swung his blade upwards to make his enemy's blade also face in that direction. Using that opening he developed because of this, the man brought his blade down on her, intending to cut her in half from the left shoulder to the right hip. Of course, his opponent managed to bring her blade back in time for a block but not much else, unfortunately. The male then quickly placed his hand on the back of Ashbringer's blade and pushed downwards, putting more weight onto his weapon to further press his advantage.

Noire however, gritted her teeth as she angled her sword diagonally to make his weapon slide away from him. The blade did exactly as she had predicted it would, as she quickly placed her foot parallel to the tips of Mograine's boots whilst sliding close to him, getting through his guard and defences quickly. Thus, she wound up getting into position to slam her Longsword's rear end right into his stomach.

This manoeuvre didn't succeed unfortunately for her though, as Mograine predicted Noire would do this and had set up his own counter, ramming into her first with his right shoulder causing Noire to stumble backwards. "Guh!" Whilst doing so, she couldn't help but grit her teeth as she really felt the force behind that blow, showing her just how serious this being was taking this little duel of theirs.

'Tch, and with those two asleep, most of my powers are unusable right now, too… can't even use my Spirit Bones, only this sword… no matter!'

Blinking once, Noire quickly returned herself to clarity, already planning her next offensive. She would have fallen onto her backside had she not regained herself at the last second, which served her well in blocking the double slash towards her chest which happened afterwards. Pushing upwards, Noire managed to deflect the second slash upwards, thus bringing her blade down to slash at his chest diagonally. The enemy blade reacted faster though, and it got brought down to where it could block her swing just in the nick of time, causing the two to become deadlocked once more.

In no time, the two broke off, glaring heatedly at one another as they got ready for the next round of their bout. Noire switched her stance, placing her right leg forwards and leaning forth on it, putting her Longsword behind her as if to make an upward slashing motion. On the other end, Mograine did the same, only in his case it was his left leg he leaned on and Ashbringer got positioned for a horizontal strike.

After the first few initial seconds…

SLASH!

Both fighters engaged one another, their forms nothing but blurs to the naked eye just like before, and thus ended up closing the 20-meter distance instantly and swinging their weapons towards each other. Each of them had the intention of fully running their blades through each other's body's, only in the end, they succeeded in trading blows once more, ending up standing right behind one another. Their blades, at the moment of collision, had created a short burst of sparks which flew through the air between them, highlighting the killing intent shining like torches within the two fighters' eyes. Back facing off against back, the two stood there for a brief second, before they quickly sprung into action once more.

Upon her turning around, Noire sensed the killing intent in the blade coming towards her head, and when she saw it, the blade indeed had been swung towards her head. 'Not this time, buddy!' she thought mentally, deciding to duck down low and swing towards his legs instead. This ended up forcing Mograine to switch targets mid swing, much to her surprise as Ashbringer was a large sword, practically a Heavy Sword in its own right. As such, manipulation of the blade on that level required IMMENSE experience and training with the large blade. 'As expected of its original wielder… so this is his skill at work…' she thought further as he blocked her swing, which she followed up with a twist if the grip and a reverse horizontal swing towards his abdomen. 'No matter, I still will win regardless!'

"I doubt that youngling."

SMASH!

It happened quickly, so quickly that it took Noire completely off guard. Bringing his blade back, Mograine surpassed her reaction time and swung the mighty Ashbringer against her Longsword. Something about that swing though... it felt different, and despite the warning bells which began to go off inside her mind, Noire couldn't stop herself in time to prevent the following from happening. Just a second before the swing got launched, Noire caught the glimpse of something inhuman about his eyes, the eyes of a warrior about to go on a rampage for vengeance or something similar…. But it vanished in that brief second. Didn't matter in the end though, for the moment that they connected, the blade shattered into little, tiny pieces.

'Wha-Wha…?!'

Shock, horror, those were the emotions which erupted inside of her as all previous thoughts shattered just as the blade of her Longsword had. The shattered pieces clattered meaninglessly against the light platform beneath them, disintegrating into small particles the moment that they touched it to leave nothing behind. Only a small portion of the blade was left at the hilt, and the moment it happened, Noire's eyes filled themselves with shock like water pouring into a jug. Ashbringer's blade slammed into the light platform beside them, embedding itself inside it although if this were solid earth, a crater as wide as an average city would have been made.

Did... Did that just happen...?

Did her blade just break?

For a moment, she didn't believe what she saw just now was actually real, her mind didn't even try to comprehend it anymore. The sound of that shattering blade sounded almost like it was an alien thought to her, her hands trembling as she watched those pieces vanish out of existence... alongside much of her chances of winning this fight. She couldn't believe this, why did this happen? Noire was so used to having really massive, overbearing and tyrannical swords which left nothing but destruction in her wake, and as a result she believed this Longsword to be no different. The thin appearance it had wasn't even an indicator for her mind before, and now the price for that error had been paid... and that price was something which her enemy had intended for her from the very beginning, she got the impression of when she glanced at his empty sockets.

"There... now, this is what you really are inside, youngling. Someone as impulsive as you, who relies way too much on mystical arts and supernatural abilities to win fights are nothing compared to a true leader. A real leader wouldn't rely on such things, a real leader would sharpen their own skills, they wouldn't let THIS be what weapons they would take into battle. They wouldn't be so WEAK that their weapons, their very wills to live and determination to protect their people, break so easily. Developing one's OWN strength is paramount, the top priority in any emergency, as when all else fails you still hold those skills which call your own, but you rely on outside sources for power, like a child relying too much on their parents to guide them. This is what you get for relying on outside sources, thinking that they would be the be all and end all." he told her, lecturing her as if he were a professor in a university.

Noire just stared at the broken blade, unresponsive to his words, silent as the wind blowing on a warm summer day... although in this case there would be ZERO warmth in this silence. This silence radiated a cold, unsettling feeling of dread. The kind of feeling one got when hey were stranded in somewhere exceedingly cold and on death's door, their heartbeats slowing to a halt as their minds shut down. The Grim Reaper ready to harvest their lives from the mortal plane. But, in her mind, Noire tried to think of something, anything which could get her out of this. She tried to think of what else she could use, what other weapons she could wield in place of the longsword she could now no longer use, almost like she didn't even hear the words coming out of Mograine's mouth. But, no matter how hard she tried, there wasn't anything else which came to mind as an alternative strategy, not even CQC since she sucked at that, and her various powers had been sealed off. Her sole weapon had been her sword skills, skills she had been relentlessly cultivating throughout her Journey through the Temen-Ni-Gru. But that now had been thrown out of the window thanks to that man's actions...

So, what could she do now?

On the opposite side of things, Mograine continued onwards, unknowing of the plight running through her mind. "Now… your blade is broken; your only form of offence is gone. Your powers have been suppressed, and your body has lost much of its original strength. As a result, you could be considered on your last legs, liable to fall at any minute like a badly damaged pillar. Therefore, I must ask you this: What will you do now?" Mograine questioned, pointing Ashbringer at Noire's throat whilst the blackette's body trembled. Or rather, it shook as a surge of weakness overcame her being, nearly making her fall to her knees had she not mentally forced her body to remain upright. Even so, the sight of it caused Mograine to narrow his eyes at her and look at the blackette with a condescending gaze, similar to a parent lecturing a child when they have done something wrong. "The way I see it, you have two options before you: One, start trying to break through my barriers on your powers, drawing out the Demon inside of you. The way you are now, that power is the most likely the one you will be able to draw upon and then cut me down, for that is the power which you have grown used to the most, in your heresy. Two, you can end this folly and resign yourself as a Leader, as a Pers-"

"Oh, SHUT UP!"

"?!"

Before the man could finish speaking, an irritated shout from Noire cut him off, silencing him as she looked up from her previously lowered head position. Her head had fallen when she barely kept her balance from that moment of weakness before, but now that it had been raised up, Mograine managed to gaze into her eyes once again. Upon doing this, he got the shock of his life as evident by the slight widening of his eyes, the very first change in emotion he had showcased throughout this entire incident one could say. In those crimson orbs, a gaze not of defeat, hesitation or doubt but one of fierce determination blazed, bearing into him mercilessly. For a moment, Mograine couldn't help but gaze into those eyes, becoming bathed in its flames to the point he could imagine himself floating within a boiling hot pool of magma. That gaze ripped into him, tearing out his breath and stole it away from him, someone whom had experienced such fierce gazes only from the most respectable and honourable of warriors back in the distant past. That gaze also served as his first and only warning of her following actions.

"Like hell…"

Noire blurred forwards, managing to close the distance between them, her right leg rushing out and sweep kicking his left foot from behind, sending him tumbling backwards. Snapping out of his previous daze, Mograine let out a surprised sound from his lips, gripping his weapon tightly as he quickly swung Ashbringer upon her in an upward swing. This swing however, turned out to be ineffective as Noire pivoted her left foot behind her, twisting her body to the side and avoiding the slash, though she didn't remain idle after that. Seizing her opportunity, the blackette took advantage of how Mograine had been caught off balance and shoulder tackled him, knocking both of them to the platform.

Upon hitting the platform beneath them, Mograine looked up and tried t launch a punch or a kick towards his opponent to get her off him, but in the end the blackette had acted faster than him. Sitting on his chest with both legs on either side, looking like she was straddling him, Noire placed one hand on the wrist holding Ashbringer and pinned it down, driving the broken blade of her Longsword right below his neck. As her lungs screamed desperately for air whilst painfully expanding and contracting within her ribcage, her breath coming out in laboured, ragged gasps, Noire ignored these in favour of glaring down at her downed opponent. Her eyes shined with the fury of a thousand suns as she roared out the following words:

"Like HELL I'M GOING TO GO WITH THAT OPTION, YOU MORON!"


	34. Chapter 34 - Light Awakening

**Chapter 34 - Light Awakening **

Throughout the void of light surrounding them, all remained silent as both parties stared each other down, neither making any move to attack one another to finish the job. The job of this battle which Mograine had started and thus, ended up being pinned under the black-haired beauty with a sword to his throat. If one took this out of context, the number of images floating through their minds would have been quite… extreme, each with varying degrees of raunchiness. To his surprise, when the man had tried to raise his arm which held Ashbringer, Noire proved to have a surprisingly vice-like grip, despite her level of strength being much unlike her usual. To that end, the blackette managed to grip his wrist strong enough whilst keeping it pinned, to force him to relinquish his hold on the blade, letting it clatter onto the platform of light beneath them. He had then tried to grab her with his other arm, but Noire had reacted by stabbing the broken blade into said hand and embedded it into the light platform halfway up the hilt, making it impossible for him to move it.

In the end, he had to admit to himself that Noire had him right where she wanted him…

But then again, this fight still wasn't over, its purpose had yet to be achieved.

"You were thinking about the purpose of this fight, weren't you?" Noire questioned, her gaze sharp like a blade yet fiery like an inferno. Upon hearing her words, Mograine looked up into those crimson orbs of hers with one eyebrow arched, even if only slightly. He didn't show any other changes in emotion, but nonetheless she could just TELL that she now had his attention, something she took advantage of by continuing her words. "You thought I wouldn't notice? Challenging me like this whilst not using any of your own powers? Fighting me only with sword skill? There HAD to be a reason behind that, I would have been a fool to not have noticed." She explained, though she didn't mention how it only had occurred to her during that moment when she saw her Longsword break, she just didn't realize it until moments later when she asked herself what to do next.

The thing was, at that moment she felt like he could have easily torn off her head and she would have had nothing in her arsenal capable of holding him back. Maybe she could have dodged him, maybe she could have even deflected it somehow with jut the hilt, but she knew for a fact the level of power Ashbringer had, and it wasn't minor. As such, she well and truly would have been defeated at that moment, but instead the man had just gloated before her, mocking her for her power set and not relying on her own natural abilities. True HDD wasn't available to her, but she still had her swordsmanship skills and a good sword could take one quite far on the battlefield. She had seen numerous examples of this throughout looking up the Spec Ops Agent records against absurdly powerful Abnormals. So… why hadn't he struck her down just then? It had only occurred to her just then that there was something else to be done here revolving around this fight…

And with his words, she had just about figured it out.

"… You wanted to test me with that ridiculous fight, didn't you, Mograine?" she questioned again, standing up and stepping off the man. She knew at this point, just with the lack of reaction to her words on the older man's part that her hunches had been right on the money. As such, she found herself free to speak her mind for once, something she hadn't been doing very much in this entire story. "You were trying to test me, the reason why I'm not so sure on, but if I were to hazard a guess I'd say you wanted to see if I would falter if my power ends up not being enough, if all else fails what I would do." She remarked, turning away from him and stepping towards Ashbringer. Bending down once she stood before it, Noire kneeled down and picked the blade up, whilst Mograine tore the broken Longsword out of his hand and yet remained unresponsive all the while. "Kind of pointless if you ask me, but I assume you have your reasons for doing so…"

"…Clarification."

After a moment of silence, Mograine closed his eyes as he stood up, keeping his head facing downwards all the while. He then looked up and turned his head towards her, still facing away from the blackette when he spoke that word. Upon seeing her tilt her head in confusion, Ashbringer's original wielder went and elaborated on it. "I needed to clarify whether or not you were suitable. Having as much power as you did made me worry, worry whether or not you would be worthy of my sword. You have been gaining so much power recently through means which weren't that of the Spec Ops ideology that it made me worried if you were the current user of my sword. Once it chooses a master, its hard pressed to find another, if there even is one anymore. Its not like the current generation of them measure up to the ones from my time."

"…Yeah, I can see your point on that last bit…" Noire reluctantly admitted after a few moments. She knew from personal experience just how much people could change, not to mention she could actually kind of relate to Mograine on some level. When she first formed Lastation al those years ago, she hadn't even imagine how something like the situation currently plaguing Lastation could have come up. But it had, and it had completely swept her off her feet. So, she could understand somewhat what Mograine had been talking about. She remembered how the current Spec Ops were, when compared to their origins many of them HARDLY fit the bill anymore, mostly due to the corruption from outside sources. But, remembering all this made her question on how the heck someone like Mograine, who should have been dead for a long time now, knew something like that in the first place. "But wait, how do you know about the current Spec Ops behaviour? It's not like this is your time, and now that I think about it, how are you even here? Weren't you like from 500 years ago?"

Upon hearing her question, Mograine nodded his head in acceptance, understanding her confusion. "That is a… long question to answer. It is only recently that I was able to gain a physical body like this, my situation you could say is similar to that being you call Siegfried, where I have become the spirit that personifies the Ashbringer. It and I are one, but unlike Siegfried I am merely 'an existence similar to but not a Heroic Spirit, yet just as powerful'. My powers do not lose out to them, in addition to me being a being whom commands holy light, my full power has yet to be achieved by anyone in the past, not even the bravest of heroes have been able to make me this way." He explained, causing Noire to look at him in surprise. But he didn't let her express more of her reaction to his words and continued. "That is, until you came along and I instinctively sensed your potential, which started the process of me awakening as well as forming a strong connection to your Soul, which already had other forces acting on it at the time. During the formation process, which has been happening ever since you first picked me up, I was able to absorb the memories of my past wielder Stefan, something I had been unable to do for my past wielders as they, despite being recognized by Ashbringer, didn't have NEARLY as much compatibility with it as you do, youngling. In fact, I would dare say that out of all of the Spec Ops Agents whom have wielded me over the last 500 years, YOU are the closest I've seen to matching the original Spec Ops."

'Now THAT's ironic, considering I'm the Goddess of an enemy Nation…' Noire couldn't help but think to herself in a bit of a snarky manner, something she tried not to show on her face. However, it seemed as though Mograine had been aware of the same thing if the look he gave her, a deadpanned stare, was any indication.

Not giving those thoughts more attention, Mograine continued his explanation. "However, problems began to arise when the Devil in you awakened, and so many powers began vying for dominion over your soul. It wouldn't have happened if each power had the same nature at their cores, but that is not the case here. You not only have the light of a divinity in you, but also that of a monster AND a Demon at the same time. One may not be awakened yet, but after this that may not be true anymore, but the situation still remains the same. As such, I began to worry, throughout the process you have been relying so much on outside powers instead of your natural abilities. You may not have been able to access your transformations, but I still feared you would have strayed from your path in the end, something I needed to clarify no matter what."

"…I still think that's completely ridiculous and unfounded…" Noire began when he finished talking. Just when Mograine looked at her sternly like a parent about to lecture a child, she cut him off before he could say anything. "But… I can kind of see where you're coming from." She spoke again, glancing to the side as memories washed over her, memories of everything she went through across this entire journey. She could hardly compared the current her to her past self, the self who had just returned to Lastation following her defeat at Halo Mountain. Still, there was something much more important in those memories that she needed address, due to its relevance to this conversation. "Its been a while, and your right, I HAVE been gathering a lot of powers under my belt. Powers so unlike my own abilities which I should have a strong reliance on… yet I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing."

For a moment, Noire stopped speaking, but considering that he sensed she wasn't finished yet, Mograine chose to remain quiet. It didn't take long for that moment to pass, and for Noire to speak whilst looking back at him. "If you've been with me for as long as you say, then you should know my stance on my powers. No matter what I become in the future, be it a Demon or a monster, I will always, ALWAYS do my best for my people. As their guardian, as their CPU, that is my duty, and I have NOT forgotten it, its always been the root of my being." she told him, placing a hand over her heart. "It doesn't matter if I'm a Goddess, Demon or whatever I become, I will always stay true to who I am at my core, nothing will influence that. If anything dares to try, well…" at that point, her eyes flashed, and a thin aura of KI began to leak out of her. "Let's just say they won't be having a good time when I'm done with them."

To be frank, although it may have just been her tsundere nature causing her not to say it completely (Neptune don't you dare break the fourth wall like you have been, this is serious business!), but if Noire mentioned that she wasn't nervous at all about her changes, then she would have been a complete liar. There was still a part of her which felt nervous about what she could become in the future, she more than anyone else remained aware of her potential to slip down a slope she could never come back from. Both the monster and the demon were powers which instinctively fought against one another when taken into the same body, something she figured to be the case from two examples: herself… and Nico.

'Even so, it doesn't matter, it may be only natural to be nervous about my pat, but that just means I'm aware of the potential dangers behind this play… still, I will not waver. Noire, CPU of Lastation, will not let these things control her, no, that will NOT happen to me.' She thought, her eyes flashing with her resolve returning to her, along with a newfound strength which caught Mograine by surprise, although he didn't show it. 'I'm the master of my Nation, nobody else. I'm the master of my fate, NOT anybody else. Anyone who tries to do otherwise will meet the end of my blade, no exception.'

Meanwhile, outside Mograine stood before her, finally showing a look of complete disbelief when he felt the inner flames of Noire's resolve shine through. With the connection established so far between them, he could hazard a strong educated guess as to what he was thinking, as well as her thought process in doing so. It looked like his warnings had been heard by her, his worries for what she could become in the future… and they weren't necessarily wrong. The potential for her to slip up and go on a rampage due to all these powers inside of her was massive, colossally so. Despite the danger, Noire remained firm in her conviction, her resolve did not break under the pressure. She faced so many options which could ruin her at any moment, yet she did not waver before them, instead keeping her head held high and her fiery will burning brightly within her being…

Just like the original Spec Ops did.

At that moment, Ashbringr began to glow, not just its core tough but the entire weapon. This ended up reaching the two beings, causing them to bring their attention towards it as the weapon began to… levitate off the light platform. "Huh? What the…?" was what Noire could only say to this, whilst a small, knowing smile spread across the older man's face. Remaining silent, he watched as the blade floated between them, hanging there with the blade pointed towards the ground, yet the glow never dimmed down. In fact, it began to resonate with this entire area, causing I t all to emit a rather… mystical aura which filled the two beings right to the top.

It wasn't a bad feeling, not one bit.

"…It seems my fears were unfounded after all…" Mograine began, catching Noire's attention as she wondered what the heck was going on. She would have brought that up if the man hadn't beaten her to the bush. "It seems the final stages are nearly complete, youngling. This place… you may have not realized this, but we are in Ashbringer's portion of your soul, as is those other beings residing within you. I pulled them in here to save them from their fate should your Soul utterly vanish from this world, but it seems there is much strength in it still." He explained, causing Noire to frown as did he after a moment.

Just then, however, the sounds of cracking could be heard, causing the blackette and older man to look around them. Throughout the void around them, cracks could be seen starting to spread out from countless places, like a plague trying to devour the host it resided in. Shards of light began to fall from the skies, with the holes allowing this murky black miasma to slip in. Mograine narrowed his eyes at the miasma, sensing no small amount of sinister, twisted intent coming from it and cursed under his breath. "Not good, it appears that there is not much time left, my power over your body is slipping, your physical body is starting to break down after being manipulated by me for so long without the proper procedure being completed. The Demon is still trying to break your Soul as well, so we must work fast."

"Eh? What are you-?"

Noire tried to say something to the man, but he hushed her and continued on regardless, much to her annoyance though she could understand why. "There is little time remaining for explanation, I may have saved what I could of your Soul, but it needs to be fully repaired otherwise my efforts will be for naught! This you here, is what remains of your Soul, and I sense your soul is on its last legs at the moment. We need to act quickly, in order for your Soul to be fully restored, you will need to fully embrace the Light, Noire. You need to accept the power flowing into you from Ashbringer." Mograine urged her, grabbing the weapon by its tip with his right gloved hand and holding it out to her. "Grasp the blade, and you will know what to do, quickly! We do not have much time before your soul is extinguished by the Demon's power!"

Now, there was no way Noire could sat she was completely fine with how this ended up, no way in hell. There were still TONS of things that Noire would have liked to known about this man, like his life story as accounted by an actual witness to it, what things were like back then and the hardships humanity managed to triumph. Then there were the more personal things, but right now she could sense the urgency in the situation too. The fact that Mograine had been fighting not only her, but the Keeper of Secrets outside registered in her mind as the reason why he hadn't been using those holy Light powers too, but she pushed that aside in order to take the blade by the hilt. Ashbringer's glow began to envelop her whilst doing so, causing a gasp to leave her lips.

All around them, the light void looked be quickly getting torn apart by the black miasma, its light dimming as it tried desperately to fight back against the approaching darkness. Sounds of tortured screams, demented demonic laughter and the bone chilling coldness of impending doom flooded the light void, rapidly invading it and robbing it of its former lustre. Despite this, the light around the edges of the black miasma pulsed like a living heart, a sign of its attempt to hold the darkness back whilst streaks of Light slammed into it, causing huge explosions of both elements to echo across the environment. Slowly, it began to look more and more like an all-out war between the light and the darkness, with chaos being born between them.

But… Noire didn't let that bother her.

The moment she grasped Ashbringer's handle, an action imprinted itself onto her brain, as if it were completing some sort of trade with… the very sword itself. It seemed that Mograine had the right idea about knowing what to do with the blade once she grasped it, much more literally too. Still, with this void crumbling around her, Noire wasted no time in doing what needed to be done…

And so, whilst raising the blade up and grasping it with two hands… she plunged it straight into her heart.

All became light after that.

* * *

Back outside…

'… It would seem that it is finally happening. This slutty mortal is finally reaching her end…'

The Keeper of Secrets noticed this and couldn't help but gleefully proclaim in its mind, keeping its eye focused on its opponent who just floated there opposite it. Both of them had fought long and hard, feeling like it had been hours since they first started although its sense of time told it that wasn't the case one bit. Their battle showed too, for much of the damage that SHOULD have been placed onto the surrounding Continent such as wide area attacks launched by the Greater Demon only hit the areas between the cities throughout Lastation. These areas got reduced to these HUGE ass craters, with many of them still smoking from the sheer heat created by said attacks. Some had pits of molten rock forming within them even, whilst chaotic storms and crimson lightning constantly surged through the skies. Hurricanes and other natural disasters had peppered the Nation as a result of their clashes impacting the weather surrounding them, mostly the Demonic Energy that the Keeper of Secrets used due to the destruction it had left in its wake. There would be a LONG timeframe for this pathetic trashcan of a land to recover from this… not like it cared.

Not when before it, its prey that slutty deity looked to have taken major damage to her person, it would only make sense since that damage was what she did to herself to block the attacks which would have hit any of this continent's city's. As a result, she constantly hunched over now, with her massive wings sporting many varying sized cracks in them. Some were small, whilst others spread all the way from their bases to their tips. Pieces of them broke and fell to the ground below like shattered glass, whilst the blackette held her right arm's bicep with her left hand, said bicep enveloped in a pool of crimson coloured blood. Blood trails ran down from her eyes, nose and mouth, staining her clothes whilst her aura swerved about around her, much weaker than it had been originally. Her clothes also had shredded areas all over, making the entire outfit look much more revealing in comparison, not only exposing more skin but also exposing countless wounds on her person. Wounds which looked to be slowly healing themselves but compared to the initial stages of their battle the speed felt like a turtle's.

Even so, she still gripped the hilt of Ashbringer as tightly as ever, almost as if both beings refused to part from one another. THAT got the Keeper of Secrets' attention, if it were frank, but it didn't pay much heed to this for very long either. Not when the hour of victory had gotten so close to it, to which its instincts screamed at it to treasure this moment, this HIGH it felt upon coming closer to its ultimate triumph. This, THIS was what it lived for, the Demon felt as it descended upon the wounded Noire and began peppering her with slashes from its Witstealer Swords, deactivating the martial technique on its claws so it could savour the violence some more.

**"****GAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Yes! YES! SCREAM bitch! SCREAM for ME! Pleasure MASTER, you WHORE!"**

Carving more wounds onto her person at a rate of speed she couldn't react as fast to anymore, the Greater Demon cackled and hooted like a mad hyena. Its form remained a blur, barely visible to the naked eye whilst darting through her weakened strikes to carve dozens of small symbols into her body. The more that they got drawn into reality, the more one could see how the symbols got made from… some exceedingly vicious looking wounds. Torture and torment were parts of the Slaaneshi Creed, so seeing an opponent suffering like this felt goddamn EUPHORIC to it. This one tasted ESPECIALLY exquisite to it due to the amount of trouble she had caused it.

**"****AHAHAHAHA-AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA-GEEEHKEKEKEKEKEKEKEKEKEKEKEKEKEKE-GYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA-OHOHOHOHOHOHHOHOHOHOHOHO! "**

Maddening cries, shrill shrieks and twisted demonic laughter filled the air like a perverse cancer as the Greater Demon tore away at Noire's body like a professional performing his or her daily routine, ripping through it yet not going for the straight kill. A quick death, aside from being against Slaanesh's way, it also empowered his archnemesis Khorne which would GREATLY displease its master. Besides, this bitch needed to learn her place in the pecking order, that being beneath its heel servicing it like the good little whore she truly was deep inside. It needed to pleasure itself more with the wounds it inflicted, not to mention the fact that she had yet to make a sound in response to all this agony (something which honestly both pissed it off and gave it a raging boner at the thought of what would happen once she FINALLY started screaming).

Just as it closed in from the front to drive its right claw into her abdomen to try and make an explosion of agony from the wounds already present there…

Her previously lowered head instantly shot upwards as she looked right at the Greater Demon. Something which caused its own to widen and a frightened sensation to instantaneously erupt within its being. This sensation, it erupted so fast and without warning to the point where it could say it had been caught COMPLETELY off guard, its high completely diminished. This feeling quickly overpowered its initial intent to cause more agony as it made to strafe backwards, pulling back from its previous attacking… unfortunately for it, it had been far too late to attempt such a procedure.

"GUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGHHHHHH!"

The emotionless Noire whom it had been having a blast wailing on before, with eyes shining as if they were made from golden light themselves, suddenly reared her head backwards and let out a loud war cry, one which caused the atmosphere around them to tremble violently whilst a huge eruption of light energy EXPLODED forth from within her being. It not only sent the Greater Demon flying, but it also illuminated the entire city as well as several dozen kilometres in every direction. Not even a spec of darkness nor shadows could be seen, everything LITERALLY looked like it got painted a pure golden colour. This spoke VOLUMES about how intense and radiant this light had been, as the Keeper of Secrets howled and shrieked whilst covering its face with its multiple appendages.

By the time the light died down, which took a couple minutes, the Greater Demon scowled and growled like a feral beast, its fury reaching the heavens and its capacity to hold itself together. Even so, it did so in order to look at the cause of such an intense light, an intense HOLY feeling light, one which it had never felt in such a great quantity before. Only ONE other being felt like that kind of feeling in the records of the DPU era, but SHE should have expired back then! So how?! Shaking its head to get rid of those pesky thoughts for the time being, the Greater Demon prepared to attack the bitch for daring to try and take away its sight…

Only to become stunned, its features losing a majority of their colour.

**(Play Yu Gi Oh OST – Passionate Duelist)**

There, floating before him, floated a being which could only be considered as light condensed into a humanoid form. The being looked to be a woman, one with a slim build, but with a short height compared to a fully-grown adult woman, if anything it compared this being's shape to this 'Purple Heart' slut it heard about from its Greater Demon brethren. Her eyes had closed gain, but her HAIR, however, swayed front and backwards like grass being brushed against by the winds, sporting this pure GOLDEN colour to it, illuminating her immediate vicinity. This light also got helped by the pure energy wings protruding out of her back, golden in colour and shaped like an angel's with the size of a hand glider just like the previous ones. They gave off the feeling of a Seraph because of this, alongside the fact that above the woman's head was what looked like a glowing golden halo of pure energy. On the sides of her head, two golden metallic broaches could be seen attached to her head's sides, sporting 3 angelic metal wings each. For her body, the woman wore a pure golden cloth form-fitting swimsuit, with black highlights scattered across it, with matching bicep-length gloves which ended in large, golden metallic clawed gauntlets. Her legs were covered in golden stockings with black outlines, but instead of gauntlets she had golden high heeled stiletto boots. Over her shoulders, she wore large golden cauldrons, each one having multiple plates sliding down her biceps for added protection whilst a set of golden waist guards were attached to her hips.

In a word, angelic could describe this being before it, all glowing with that golden aura around her which glittered about even if there were no reflective light rays for the phenomenon to occur. But what drew the Keeper of Secrets' attention the MOST, would have definitely been the weapon the woman held in hand. In her right hand, she gripped a two-handed handle, which belonged a massive Greatsword, one much longer than she was tall, with a futuristic black metallic design yet with a diagonal tip. A circular guard surrounded the hilt to protect the hands when using it, whilst it sported a brilliantly glowing golden edge. The blade's eyes glittered about just as her aura did, but at the base of it's blade one could see the Gem which oddly resembled that of Ashbringer's core quite a bit.

All in all, the woman before it could only be described as… godly, and it did NOT like that idea one bit.

Then, her eyes began to open… and her eyes shone a BRILLIANT mix off brightly glowing teal as well as golden power button symbols.

* * *

Meanwhile…

"Th… This is…"

As she opened her eyes, Noire glanced down at herself, quickly noticing that her voice sounded like of her alternate HDD self, something she didn't believe was even possible at first since that form had been sealed away this entire story. However, it didn't take her long for her mind to be swept up by her new appearance, weapon, and the INCREDIBLE amounts of power flowing through her system. For one to get a good perspective, then compared to the level of power she had at the peak of her rule in the past, when her citizens had their absolute faith in her, that power felt like a mere raindrop compared to this ocean of power she felt welling up inside of her. Aside from that, she looked herself over, raising her arms to her eyes, looking over her blade, looking herself up and down, the works to take in what she currently looked like. She didn't even NEED to look at her wings to notice just how much they had changed. "What… what is going on here…?! Why am I suddenly like this, what happened to me?! What did that guy do?!"

_… __I believe that I know what he has done, Noire…_

'Siegfried!' The transformed Goddess exclaimed mentally when she heard the ever so familiar (not to mention welcoming, but not like she would admit that out loud), voice of her companion Heroic Spirit. She remembered how Mograine had said that he'd put him and Rik under a sleeping-like state, making them enter a forced slumber to help save their lives from the attacks on her soul, so knowing that he was awake again relieved her more than she'd care to mention. 'Your awake! Tell me, what did that guy do to me?! Why am I in HDD, and what happened to it?!'

_…__It appears that Mograine has allowed the Ashbringer to completely merged with your sealed HDD self, making it so that it can no longer be held back by Geronimo's Spell any longer. This fusion has not only caused you to permanently lose the ability to WIELD that sword, but it caused an evolution of sorts for your HDD Form. As such, your HDD Form now looks like… this, along with some greater advantages in Light manipulation, speed and what else I am unsure on for now. For now however, I believe that it would be wise to deal with the enemy before us, looks like it is now taking us seriously compared to earlier…_

Siegfried's response not only explained some of the questions floating through her mind, but also made Noire, or rather Black Heart now (even though black wasn't her dominating colour anymore), to turn her gaze to the Greater Demon. Said Demon trembled before her, its form literally OOZING with churning anger and burning fury at this development. She couldn't help but smirk at the sight, feeling more than a little vindictive against it for what it has put her through. "What's wrong? Cat got your tongue?" Black Heart questioned smugly, pointing her new sword, which now that she thought about it looked somewhat like a fusion of her CPU sword and Ashbringer, at her opponent. "Do I need to teach you some manners before a Goddess? Actually, I think I'll do that anyways."

**"****Y-YOU… what DID you DO?! Your POWER… your FORM… everything! IT has CHANGED! What DID you DO to YOURSELF?!"**

Demands powered by fury escaped the Greater Demon's lips as it pointed one of it's Witstealer swords at its enemy, knowing in its gut that the last fight would be inevitable. Inevitable and short too, considering he amount of power she had right now dwarfed its own. However, she didn't seem to have much knowledge about herself just yet, something which it got proven right when it had seen her check herself out as well as practically proclaim it right on the battlefield. Such a foolish mistake on her part, but hey sluts weren't known for being brainy.

"Hmph, a mere Demon like yourself dares to question me? After everything you've done, do you really expect answers out of me? The audacity your kind possesses must know no bounds." Black Heart retorted, rolling her eyes at the Keeper of Secrets. She had sensed that it had tried to launch some mind and soul attacks during that ranting it had done earlier, but the moment they had connected with her mind, they had instantly got vaporized by the power of Light flowing through her body. Looked like this new evolution to her HDD form had a strong resilience to such things now, something she would make sure to put to GOOD use against future opponents, heck something like this could help Black Heart fight Vicious and Arkham in one final showdown, one which seemed to be taking place in the Slaaneshi Demon World. But she felt like she had just gotten ahead of herself, she still had to take out the trash right now, so Black Heart narrowed her eyes and glared down at her demonic adversary. "Now then, come here and receive your penance, Demon. I grow weary of seeing your ugly mug in MY Nation."

**"****You…! I will ENJOY breaking YOU, my SLUT! You WILL regret BEING born MERELY a Low-class DEITY! Now… COME!"**

Snarling at her with a viciousness it hadn't displayed before, the Keeper of Secrets howled as its body surged with Demonic Power, coursing through its body and causing a massive aura to erupt from it. Flames, Lightning and countless arcane energies danced along its Witstealer Swords whilst its claws activated that martial technique of its, causing them to repeatedly phase in and out of reality like they were hardly even there.

Upon seeing that, Black Heart's gaze intensified as the hatred inside of her swelled rapidly, remembering the same technique having been used on her by Mundus when he totally wrecked her shit with the other CPUs. Those memories even brought back phantom pains from that battle, only furthering her irritation as she gritted her teeth behind her lips. 'That technique… I remember it well…' she thought as she gripped her sword, getting into her combat stance. The blade's aura began to glow brighter in response to her feelings of irritation, something the Greater Demon responded to by getting ready as well.

_…__This technique… I think I can recall it somewhere before…_

'You do?'

_… __Yes, that's it. This technique is an extremely advanced one, the Hougetsu Jigen-Tou, or rather the Moon Crushing Dimensional Sword. It is a dark martial arts technique developed by a powerful Multi Continent Class DPU known as Touhou Fuhai back in the DPU Era. It is usually a technique which is to never be taken lightly… however, compared to his version, this one looks to be like a blunt stick…_

**(OST End)**

**(Play** **Persona 3 Portable OST- Wiping All Out)**

That information seemed quite important, and it was obvious that Siegfried knew more about the technique, but for now she decided to push that aside to test her new HDD Form out. With that in mind, Noire tilted herself forwards, intending to dash forth to meet the Greater Demon in combat…

The only thing was, she just appeared right behind the said Demon without even blinking, causing her to tense as a silent gasp escaped her mouth. Instincts saved her by bringing her out of that daze as she quickly turned around, blocking an overhead strike from both Witstealer Swords at the same time. From that collision, a HUGE surge of energy erupted forth, blasting the space behind her and causing a massive shockwave, one which blew her hair backwards but other than that the golden-haired Goddess remained largely unaffected. 'Whoa! Now THAT was fast!' she thought in shock and surprise, whilst Siegfried DID say she had improved speed in this form, she didn't expect to not be able to keep up with it herself!

Grunting, it appeared that the Keeper of Secrets also didn't expect such a change, given how she could literally FEEL the shock and panic in it's trembling blades. Before she could gloat and mock it further, a howl of fury escaped the Greater Demon's lips as it reared its claws back to rip into her flesh, painting said appendages red, only for Black Heart to lift her sword up and toss it upwards, away from her. 'Strength has increased too, I see…' she thought, frowning as she once again tried to regulate the speed, she could move at… managing to only appear a meter or two to its left flank this time.

Whelp, it was progress at least…

Twisting around to face it, Black Heart decided to see if she could try something with this Light Manipulation Siegfried stated she had. A power born from the fusion of her HDD Form and Ashbringer, if she thought about it she would have wondered if she could accomplish more than what she had with the light powers Ashbringer had than she had been able to previously. Thus, she raised her right leg whilst twisting on her heel, remembering a character from a shounen anime she watched a while back doing the same thing… and then kicked towards the Keeper of Secrets.

PEW!

In that moment where her kick reached its maximum length, what could only be described as a laser beam made from light shot out from her foot, shooting towards the Keeper of Secrets and burying itself into its being before it could raise its claws to hack it apart. This caused the Greater Demon of Slaanesh to howl and roar as it got sent flying through the air, crashing back onto the Temen-Ni-Gru's peak. The impact caused an explosion of dirt to be released the moment of collision, shielding the Demon from view… though that wasn't what had Black Heart's attention right now.

'Holy…!' She exclaimed in her mind as she looked down at her leg, eyes wide in disbelief at what she had just done. Well, in hindsight she didn't even know WHAT to expect with these powers, something she could say she felt towards all aspects of her rather expansive moveset, but that only made it easier for her to be blown away by what her Light Powers just did. 'Did I just shoot freaking LASERS out of my FEET?!' She shouted after a second or two, before lowering her leg and flying over to where the Demon had crash landed, floating just above the ground whilst her wings kept themselves unfurled. 'That Greater Demon can't have died from that attack, but I can't risk destroying the Temen-Ni-Gru just yet…' she thought whilst narrowing her gaze and gripping her CPU Sword tightly. That little demonstration didn't stay in her mind for long due to the urgency of the situation…

Urgency which soon went up to 11 when the Keeper of Secrets shot out the smoke like a blur, a mighty war cry escaping its maw whilst its dual Witstealer Swords were spread to the sides. Instincts took over as Black Heart swung her blade diagonally upwards, deflecting both blades away from her before thwacking it in the face with the blade's back edge, knocking it back a couple steps. She then adjusted her grip on her sword and brought it down for a downward slash, something which got blocked by it's right Witstealer Sword. The other got swung un a downward diagonal arc, to which Black Heart responded by swinging her sword, deflecting the swing away from her before she brought it back and placed it horizontally in front of her to block a thrust meant to impale her through the neck.

SLASH-SLASH-SHASH-SLASH-SLASH-SHASH-SLASH-SLASH-SHASH-SLASH-SLASH-SHASH-SLASH-SLASH-SHASH-SLASH-SLASH-SHASH-SLASH-SLASH-SHASH-SLASH-SLASH-SHASH-SLASH-SLASH-SHASH-SLASH-SLASH-SHASH-SLASH-SLASH-SHASH-SLASH-SLASH-SHASH-SLASH-SLASH-SHASH-SLASH-SLASH-SHASH-SLASH-SLASH!

Slashes flowed between the two opposing beings, their arms that of blurs as they fought faster than the eye could track, They ould pivot around each other to try and get in strikes from unnatural angles, only to get blown back in their own unique ways. Whereas the Greater Demon kept launching shockwaves from its swings to expose openings for some Demonic Power-enhanced thrusts once it saw an opportunity (as well as swing those damn claws towards her vitals as well), Black Heart would mix her attacks up with Laserbeams from her hands, feet, mouth eyes, pretty much any part of her body that the Demon before her would not have anticipated, leading to many escapes from the Lasers by the skin of its fangs.

They fought like this for what felt like hours, when in reality it was only about 40 minutes...

**"ENOUGH! Time FOR you SLUT to SUBMIT to YOUR master!"**

Angry beyond belief, the Keeper of Secrets quickly tore away at Black Heart's defences by pulling a feint then twisting into an upward spinning slash, knocking her sword away from her. Reacting fast, Black Heart thrusted her free arm forwards, channelling that light power to see if she could repeat that same attack once again, resulting in another couple laserbeams being launched which tore through the creature's lower arms, disabling that Hougetsu Jigen-Tou technique on its claws and cauterizing the stumps. Because of the rage blinding it right now, the Greater Demon didn't bother regenerating those limbs as it closed the distance between them, swinging both Witstealer Swords in an X shape pair of arcs which were intended to decapitate the Goddess.

However, Black Heart had other ideas in mind, swiftly swinging her free arm upwards whilst calling upon the Light inside of her. This ended up resulting in a pillar of Light erupting in front of her, its size being just enough to hit the Greater Demon's entire torso, sending it flying up into the air. This gave her the chance to pick her sword up by flipping through the air like a sausage, roll across the ground towards it, and then grasp its hilt before lifting herself back into a floating position. Just after she did this, the pillar then vanished once it reached over 100 meters in height, shattering into many dozens of Light particles… though, in Black Heart's mind, she could still feel a connection to those Particles. 'Huh… I wonder…' she thought, an idea springing to life inside her head before a dark, sadistic smirk formed on her lips. Waving her free hand in a full circular motion, she willed each of the Light Particles to swarm around her, forming a ring around her form before she put her hand in a blade-like position with every finger linked together. This made the Particles form over 200 spikes made entirely of light, each one primed and ready to hack apart the Greater Demon above.

Said creature took one look at all those Spikes, and its face quickly lost all colour, knowing what would be happening next.

**"****N-NO! don't YOU dare-!"**

"I'm sorry, but in the words of a British abridged Woman who leads a vampire fighting organisation: 'I don't give a fuck'."

With that, Noire thrusted her hand forward a bit, and thus all the Spikes launched themselves towards the enemy, intent on skewering it alive. They flew fast and true, perfectly aimed to shred their target to ribbons. Said Target just let out a loud howl as it formed a Demonic Energy barrier around itself, sort of like a shell, to hopefully try and beat back the assault or endure it until it ended...

Sadly for it, that wouldn't happen since a couple dozen Spikes managed to shatter the Barrier with ease, letting the others proceed on course and embed themselves into the Greater Demon's body.

**"GUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"**

The Keeper of Secrets cried out in absolute AGONIZING torment, its shrieks filling the skies and air around them and, if it were possible, it would have ruptured the eardrums of everything on the Continent. Just feeling the Sikes impaling it would have been bad enough, however when each Spike hit waves of Light entered its body and began destroying it from the inside out, as evident by the strong sensation of being scorched alive, its intensity similar to that of being next to a glowing star in its prime. If it were anything less than a Greater Demon, then it would have been incinerated by this Light in seconds, something which it didn't know whether to be thankful for or to curse with every fibre of its being as it spiralled down to the ground below...

… Just into the path of an incoming sword swing, one which quickly cut off the Greater Demon's head before it could crash onto the Temen-Ni-Gru's peak. Black Heart had dashed forwards with high speeds, moving like a single flash of light with her sword having been swung before the Greater Demon ever perceived its rapidly swinging form, leaving no chance for it to ever HOPE to have countered. In order to MAKE sure the Greater Demon stayed dead though, Black Heart clicked her fingers and had the 200 Spikes come back down from above, spearing it through every possible angle (including the severed head) before causing a large explosion of pure light, fully erasing the Demonic being from existence.

**(OST End)**

The battle over, Black Heart lowered herself to the ground, landing on one leg and kneeling in exhaustion. Her breath escaped her in ragged, loud breaths with her torso visibly inhaling and exhaling constantly. Behind her, her wings curled inwards, furling together like any Bird's would when not in use as she stabbed her Sword into the ground beside her for support. "Ugh... Guh… finally, that thing is damned dead..." she muttered under her breath, her hair shadowing her eyes whilst Black Heart tried to regain her composure. "Its... taking a lot of my willpower to remain transformed after this... that so-called 'Keeper of Secrets' won't be hiding anything from anyone ever again though..."

Whilst trying to take solace in the fact that she had luckily come out on top in this situation, Black Heart didn't even TRY to fool herself. If she were to take anything from this battle, it would have been that Greater Demons truly WERE much more threatening than their Lesser Demon counterparts. She thought that she had learned this lesson back when she had fought alongside Vert and Neptune against that Bloodthirster back in Leanbox, but she must have been way to arrogant to think that. The only reason why they had been able to SURVIVE against that thing had been due to their combined efforts, as well as Lucy revealing herself to be the Spring goddess and utterly wrecking the Greater Demon. Facing one ALONE proved itself to be completely unlike back then, she had more close shaves in this fight than she ever had in comparison. The memories of those visions she'd received during those strikes against her Soul, those quiet yet deadly strikes which had been much unlike what had hit Nico post that Mundus Battle could very well have obliterated her without her being able to fight back. If it hadn't been for Ashbringer...

"Still, the time for rest isn't now..." She muttered under her breath once she got her composure back, lifting her head as she stood up, rising into a floating position with her wings extending into their unfurled positions. "I've still got to stop Arkham before he goes and completes his objective... but first..." She then turned her head towards where Lid lay unconscious, forgotten for the entirety of that battle. Floating over to her, Black Heart kneeled next to her, and narrowed her eyes upon her prone form. A faint glow began to take form in those two orbs, and in her eyes she saw everything around her darkening, even Lid's body until only what looked like an orb with a flame swerving on top of it was visible. Well... she guessed it had one point been such a thing, but now it looked like it was barely holding itself together, one step away from falling into pieces judging by how fragmented and damaged it looked. "Geez... what is this? It looks dangerous and fragile..."

_…This does not bode well, Noire. It appears that her Soul, the orb you are seeing, has been significantly damaged by that Keeper of Secrets, something which only stopped when it started targeting you instead. Looks like its only being held together by her partner, her Assassin Class Heroic Spirit. If I were to guess, then one more attack would have incinerated it out of existence, permanently reducing Lid to a soulless husk. It will likely be that she would never wake up again without proper treatment..._

'Is there anything I can do to help Lid's situation?' Black Heart questioned her Heroic Spirit partner once she heard his explanation, gritting her teeth to hold back the worry surging through her. Keeping calm felt much easier in this form than it had been in the past, since she usually had a bit of a battle-maniac streak going on when in it. Probably due to Ashbringer's influence, but still, she refused to think there was nothing that she could do to help one of her subjects who had been put on death's door in front of her.

_…I m unsure, however your current form DOES make me suspect you might be able to repair her damaged Soul like Mograine did for you, considering your permanently fused with it. That might be your best option at the moment..._

Upon hearing his reply, Black Heart gave a fast nod in return, briefly closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. Exhaling at the next second, she opened her eyes once more with a look of blazing determination, her right hand quickly being moved to the unconscious girl's torso area where the Soul had been located. This would mark the first time she would ever have tried to do this, and she hoped to Goddess that this would work. If it didn't... no, she'd rather not think about that presently, so instead she began to channel light down her arm and into Lid's body. This got shown physically by her arm gaining brilliant golden shine to it which then spread itself over the unconscious Agent, and when it did so Black Heart eyed the said Agent's 'Soul' with a hard gaze. this was it, she thought, no time for hesitation, no time for reservations. She had only one shot at this, so she needed to make this work.

That in mind, Black Heart began to circulate the Light entering Lid's body towards her Soul, enveloping it in the Light and starting her work. Well, she had Rik's help (the fact that he was awake now was not lost on her) since the Appetite Demon knew more about Souls than she did due to its nature. In the beginning, pressure weighed heavily on Black Heart's chest as she had to quickly gather the remnants of Lid's Soul and reconnect them with one another, kind of like gluing together severed pieces of a cardboard box. This would be the most DIFFICULT section of the process, due to the fact that the slightest misstep would result in the whole Soul ripping itself into pieces, thus making saving Lid's life an impossibility.

This actually reminded her of a time she attended a Spec Ops Agent's emergency surgery after said Agent got heavily wounded in battle. The sheer intensity, the risk of something going wrong and killing the patient dying, she had felt it back then but right now she realized she had switched places, becoming the participant instead of the observer. Sweat rolled down her brow as she kept her hand on Lid's body, keeping the light flowing into her whilst mentally directing it to its task. It was made all the worse since this was her FIRST time using her Light this way, plus she knew just how DANGEROUS that could be since untrained medical experts could very well do the exact opposite to what they intended.

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Time passed like it was crawling, whilst Black Heart put her fullest attention on her task, the intensity and the risk of it all keeping her brow covered with sweat, almost making it look like a small rainfall with how much she was sweating right now, but she paid it no heed. Her Agent's life was way more important than some kind of personal discomfort. Multiple times, Black Heart almost slipped up, barely managing to stop herself from doing so which forced her mind to quickly analyse just how to heal someone's Soul. All the while, Siegfried and Rik remained silent and patiently watched her intently, aware of the severe consequences which could potentially befall their host, knowing of her immense need for silence.

Finally however, the hard part got finished up when Black Heart managed to connect the last fragment of Lid's soul to the main one, allowing her to breathe slightly easier as she began fixing the Soul directly, something which would drain a LOT more of her power. She felt like a literal battery being used to power a device, her Light forcefully being expended to help the Soul recover from its wounds. She didn't dare make a single mistake, as even if the hard part had been accomplished, she didn't want o tempt fate since she herself had experience on how cruel it could be on a whim.

After another moment or two... Lid's Soul got fully repaired, no more cracks remaining and it now had the same appearance as those depictions from that manga about people who could turn to weapons working with something with 'M' in their title fighting against witches. Upon seeing her hard work pay off, did Black Heart let out the biggest sigh of relief in her entire long life, quickly wiping away the puddle of sweat on her forehead. 'Whew... I did it...!' she thought, placing a hand over her thumping heart to try and calm it down. '... But, I guess she won't be waking up any time soon...'

_…You are correct, her Soul may have been healed, but her body needs time to rest from the procedure. Do not worry about her, for I sense that her Heroic Spirit is wide awake and will do what he needs to for protecting her. You must focus on your own task..._

'... Yeah...' Her eyes hardened once more when she looked up at the Portal up in the skies, that Sealing Array from before having completely vanished from sight. It must have been due to the Greater Demon's death then, she figured as Black Heart unfurled her wings and made them do a single flap, propelling her upwards. 'Now then, lets go and finally wipe up the mess that idiotic bastard left behind!' she thought further, entering the Portal into the Demon World at long last.


	35. Chapter 35- Arkham Battle!

**Chapter 35 - Arkham Battle!**

Shooting through a Portal like she did wasn't on one of the things that Black Heart wondered if she would ever experience, but when she did so it became an experience she likely would never forget. The feeling of everything around you being twisted and warped whilst a current of air carried her through the Portal's tunnel, it pretty much felt like nothing she had ever experienced before. Her stomach churned and rocked about in ways she didn't know it could during the trip, with everything around her surroundings being similar to what people interviewed in prisons for using illegal drugs said they saw when riding on their highs, something which nearly gave Black Heart a headache as she passed through. Not to mention the smells which bombarded her senses, smells of different herbal narcotics mixed with all kinds of smells, some she had sniffed before on Gamindustri but many which were seen as alien to her. She eventually forced herself to cover her nose to keep them out, though mentally she couldn't help but be thankful for her new and improved HDD Form had strong Mental and Soul Resistance. If she hadn't, then Black Heart feared she would have succumb to the effects of these drugs, and THAT wouldn't bode well for anyone.

Speaking of her current form, the moment she exited the Portal onto the other side, the first thing she did instead of take in the current scenery was to talk to Siegfried. There were of course, SEVERAL things she wanted to ask him now, and for the moment this time felt like the most opportune one. 'Say, Siegfried… mind explaining more about the Hougetsu Jigen-Tou and how you know of it?' she questioned her Heroic Spirit. All The while, she closed her eyes and expanded her senses, trying to feel out Arkham's Demonic Power through the myriad of different sources she could sense across her vast surroundings. Entering a Demon World for the first time… wasn't exactly something she wanted to do in life, but the things she had to do to be a good Leader…

_…__The Hougetsu Jigen-Tou… the Moon Crushing Dimensional Sword. It has been a long time since I last encountered that technique personally, but I still remember it to this day. The originator of the Technique came from a DPU whom was once part of a Trio, known as the three dark lords. Exceptionally powerful for Multi Continent Class, but then again that could be said for all DPUs since they're referred to as power incarnate just like Dragons. They wee Touhou Fuhai, Mikogami Tenmei, and a Demoness who'd reached World Class known as Akasha Bloodriver. Back to the technique, I encountered it many times when I fought to protect my people against demonic incursion, as many of the stronger Demons wielded this technique to great effect. Although it is primarily a short-ranged technique, it can be trained to strike at long distances as well as act as a defensive measure. It is a very VERSATILE and DANGEROUS technique when properly utilized…_

So… that was the Technique Mundus had used to utterly flatten them back at Halo Mountain, the Moon Crushing Dimensional Sword… that was what Black Heart thought before she found a particularly LARGE surge of Demonic Power a fair distance away from them. Thinking about it, she remembered seeing that guy chop up pretty much everything around them whilst whopping their asses to kingdom come. Now that she knew more about it, she could see just why Mundus didn't use anything else against them, an insidious technique like that would be all that he needed… and didn't he not regard the technique very highly? Thoughts like that sent shudders down her spine, making Black Heart wonder just how powerful that guy truly was when he got serious.

Something told her she would be finding out via an up close and PERSONAL demonstration.

With Arkham's signature locked, Black Heart quickly began to fly through the skies like a bullet, rapidly closing in on his location. The glowing Goddess, whilst she flew through scenery so degrading and disgusting, she dared not look at it, she couldn't help but notice something… off about this Demonic Power. 'What the… this power… I know it since it feels like Arkham, but there's something off about it… its larger, vaster… and much more volatile than before. I don't like it… what do YOU think, Siegfried…?' she questioned her comrade and mentor.

_…__I would say that Arkham may have possibly already assimilated with the power of the DPU which was sealed here. It would explain why this place has not shifted into complete alert, though then again since this is a Slaaneshi Demon World they likely care more about engaging in massive bloody orgies at the moment. In any case, don't think you'll be getting any Demon Prince company in the time we are here, but do make sure to make this quick. You're only using this form for the first time, so you're not completely effective with it yet. Arkham may have become a DPU already, which makes your upcoming battle going to be MUCH harder than that of that Keeper of Secrets…_

'Right, got it…' Black Heart thought, narrowing her eyes as she increased her speed. Her wings flapped a few times, creating loud sonic booms which go followed by huge bursts of motion, making her look only like a streak of light as she flew. Like Siegfried said, she hadn't completely mastered this form yet since she had JUST got it, so it would be likely that she wouldn't be able to reach its full potential. Still, fighting in this form would help her immensely with understanding its quirks, but she also needed to deal with this situation fast, so she had to prioritise the latter more than the former.

_…__I sense you wish to know something else about me, Noire…_

'… Yeah. Just when were you around? From what I've heard, I guess you've been around for a long time. I mean, you know things about this DPU Era, which I assumed through process of elimination happened a long ass time ago.'

_…__About 30 trillion Years, give or take. The DPU Era was when I was born, as one of the few human Kings of that period. My Legend, I am unsure as to how it survived for so long, but it had and as a result it is known largely in the lands of Leanbox and Lastation. Probably not the full truth, about a heavily modified version, but its there. I fought against countless Demons, both strong and weak. I have seen things which you could only ever imagine, Noire, things which could scar even the hardened of warriors…_

So, her hunches had been correct after all, then, Black Heart realized, all the while her sensing activities told her that she was getting close to where Arkham currently resided. She had suspected that to be the case for a while now but had been waiting for the opportune moment to confirm it for herself. It didn't really change anything between the two of them, just informed one party more about the other, that was pretty much all there was to it. Now that she had this knowledge though, she could probably glean more information out of Siegfried about that Era (having hidden the shock she had felt on how long ago that Era had been). Combine that with the books she still had in her Inventory, and she had a LOT of information to pile through.

'Well, glad that we're on the same page on that front, Siegfried. Makes it easier to believe you when you talk about these Demonic matters. In any case, I can sense Arkham's presence nearby now, so let's get this next battle over with.' She thought to him, getting a hum of agreement from the Heroic Spirit before she increased her flight speed. This had gone on long enough in her mind, so the time to settle all this had finally come.

* * *

A few more moments of flying later, Black Heart finally arrived at her destination. The place where she had sensed Arkham's power the most, it was not very… accessible place, for it took the form of a circular lake sliding inwards towards a hole in the centre. Looking at it from a distance reminded her of the funnels one would use as an everyday appliance. Surrounding the area, were these massive hexagonal pillars, jutting out of the lake-like surface in various formations… although some of them also had these fat Tentacle-looking things with tips which looked like that of penises curled around them. Furthermore, the lake surface actually resembled more like… semen and urine mixed together, with a smell similar to various highly addictive drugs mixed together, creating a powerful aroma.

'Tch, figures somewhere like this would be where the final stand will take place…'

_…__Do not underestimate this man, Noire. He has proven himself intelligent, resourceful and devious despite being an absolute madman. A dangerous combination for any country. It is very possible that he has a plan for this encounter set in place ahead of time…_

Nodding her head at Siegfried's warning, the golden Goddess flew down towards the outermost edge of the area, lifting herself upwards into a fatal position before she shifted into an upright one. Her wings flapped forwards, halting her movement and allowing her to land on the semen-like lake… something she quickly rectified by entering a floating position above it. She did NOT want to be anywhere NEAR that stuff, nor did she want it touching anywhere on her body more than necessary. 'Now THAT's an experience I want to purge from my mind as soon as possible...' Black Heart thought, glancing down at the ground in sheer disgust which was further enhanced by the shuddering her body did.

With her large sword in hand, the CPU of Lastation cautiously floated forwards the centre of the area, mentally keeping her senses active for any signs of a surprise attack from this guy. She wouldn't put it past Arkham to resort to such tactics, considering his track record so far, but it wasn't like she was going to fall for such a ploy. It would have ben way too beneath her pride, something she held deeply close to her heart. Holding her sword at the ready, Black Heart made to look to her left….

Only to twist it to the front again and block a sword strike aimed to take her head off, the loud collision causing winds to abruptly erupt throughout the area.

**"****HMPH! I see… and HERE I SUSPECTED you WOULD be SEDUCED by the ALURE of THIS WORLD, whore OF a CPU…"**

Seconds into the collision once the winds died down, the voice of the attacker spoke out with an amused chortle escaping his lips. The voice being both masculine with a strong demonic edge had not been lost to her, something which Black Heart pushed to the side for now as she put strength into her arm and pushed the attacker back. Said attacker flipped through the air and landed on the opposite side of the area, stopping so that the two faced off on opposing sides, as if manifestations of light and darkness themselves.

That was when Black Heart got a good look at her attacker, said attacker being Arkham due to his Demonic Power feeling similar to his own. However, that would be the ONLY thing she could recognize about him, for he sported a completely different visage now. Now, Arkham's form looked like that of a slightly-larger-than-human-sized, vaguely insectoid Demon with clawed hands, a scaly hide, a pair of downward facing ram horns, chiropteran wings with beetle-like wings underneath, hooves for feet, and reptilian spines protruding from his back. Parts of his body appeared to be made of grey scales with accents of red and purple. He also had gold veins on his hands and arms, chest, shoulders and back, a red diamond eye shaped gem in the centre of his forehead, and skull-shaped gold knees and elbow guards with small horns. Though, the most notable feature in this form would be his slit-like eyes, which glowed red in the darkness of this Demon World and did not have pupils. Surrounding his body, there looked to be a fierce, vicious dark red aura which writhed like infernal violent flames. In his right hand, there lay a sword which pulsated with unimaginable energy… energy which Black Heart felt similar to Soul Edge in nature, but in strength…

**"****LOOK before YOU, slut. THIS is THE great POWER a DPU is MEANT to POSSESS. What DO you THINK upon SEEING this MAGNIFICANT form?"**

"Heh, looks kind of like a bug, which I feel suits you well. Now if only I had a can of bug-spray I'd be set." Black Heart snarked back, a mocking smirk spreading across her lips with her teal eyes glowing just as brightly as Arkham's own, as she got into her battle stance. She would have loved to see that smug look on his human face get wiped clean off by her remark, but since he had this form right now, Arkham's features didn't allow for such things Her smirk then fell as she adopted a more serious scow, her eyes glowering at him with an almost devilish viciousness. "You seriously think I'm just going to let you just WALK away from this alive? You must be demented if you think that." She stated, gripping her sword's hilt tighter than before whilst her energy wings twitched in agitation.

**(Play Yakuza 0 OST – Pledge of Demon)**

In response to her words, Arkham lowered his head, giving a brief mocking laughter at her words… before he was on her in the following second, already swinging at her neck. To this, Black Heart raised her sword at an angle and blocked it, pushing backwards to bring her weapon around her back and down into a diagonal slash, one which also got blocked by Arkham's sword. Taking a step backwards, Black Heart parried a swing from the left, right, and then hopped back to avoid a thrust to her stomach, raising her left hand and bringing it down.

Glancing upwards, Arkham noticed about 20 Light Spikes having formed above them, sparks flying between them as they fell down upon Black Heart's hand movement. He then unfurled his wings and hopped backwards, flipping like a sausage through the air to avoid the spikes, and before he landed the Demonic man gripped his Sword tighter which caused the blade to be enveloped in crimson fire. Swinging it horizontally, the blade release a wide ac of flames which raced towards Black Heart's position, something she avoided by bending her legs, spreading her energy wings and leaping upwards, her wings flapping to give her extra height as she leapt over the attack.

Although, one problem occurred regardless…

'Ugh!'

Mentally, the CPU cringed when she felt herself hit something, some kind of force or surface she hadn't seen before. Glancing behind herself, Black Heart noticed a bunch of Arrays and Wards forming a Dome around this area, something she hadn't seen upon her entry to this place. 'Tch, Barrier Wardcraft, huh? Looks like he's intending to keep us here and to keep unwanted guests out.' She thought, sensing agreement from Siegfried, before glaring down at Arkham… Said man having so happened to be launching more fiery waves at her whilst she had been monologuing to herself.

'Guh!' she exclaimed mentally, quickly tilting herself sideways and flapping her wings, resulting in a dive roll which propelled her out of the way of those flame waves. Falling to the ground, Black Heart righted herself by rolling through the air, resulting in her landing back in her floating position from the beginning. That done, the golden-haired CPU swung her sword and launched a set of 40 Light beams at her enemy. For Arkham to spin around into swinging his sword into an upward arc, releasing flames which burned the incoming attacks to cinders.

Fire and Light attacks surged through the area like serpents slithering through air itself, causing moderate sized explosions of both their elements whilst filling the area with ever thickening smoke. Smoke which the barrier established around this area managed to contain alongside the many powerful elemental attacks, showcasing the strength behind it. If one were to try and gauge how strong this Barrier would be to contain these rampant and violent attacks, then they would have found it to be about University Class, and it showed. All the while, the two fighters duked it out viciously like two gladiators fighting to the death in front of millions of spectators in a coliseum. Sword swings, thrusts, sweeps and other such techniques got thrown at one another rapidly, every SECOND being one in which one party potentially could get themselves crippled o worse fatally injured by each other's weapons.

Although on the surface it seemed like the two of them were fighting on an equal playing field, one could discover this to be far from the truth the more the battle dragged on if they played close enough attention to it. More specifically, if they paid more attention to Black Heart's side of the battlefield…

'Tch, now THIS is annoying…' said Goddess thought to herself whilst grimacing, pivoting to the side to avoid a narrow slash wave made from Arkham's flames which could have sliced her in half. Making some rapid thrusts in his direction, she launched several laser beams at him only for the man to close the distance between them, the laser beams bouncing off his demonic hide like they were nothing but pebbles hitting a tall rock, forcing them into another clash of blades. Sparks flew between their weapons for a brief instant, before the two hopped back to get some distance. Black Heart became the first to dash forwards, flapping her wings to propel her towards her enemy with a kick aimed towards his head, Light having gathered around the limb to fire a laser beam at point blank range. However, the demonized man merely sidestepped the attack, causing a string of explosions to take place behind him as he threw his free hand forwards, launching what looked like s serpent made from crimson fire at his prey. Fortunately for her, Black Heart managed to slide underneath it, kicking Arkham away before he could try anything with that fiery sword of his.

**(OST END)**

Things may LOOK like they were fairly even between them, but the truth was something else entirely, that truth being that Black Heart herself still found it to be her disadvantage. There were several reasons for this, the first one being that, thanks to her battle with the Keeper of Secrets, she hadn't entered this battle in her optimal condition, something which had already been brought up before, so it wasn't the most IMPORTANT reason. The second reason though would be her speed, something which could have potentially been much greater than what she was currently using to avoid Arkham's strikes, but she couldn't actually UTELIZE her full speed in this enclosed space, not with that Barrier up there. It wasn't like she could examine or destroy it either, since Arkham kept her attention focused on him this entire time, thus this battle currently kept sliding closer and closer to Arkham's side of the court.

Not something Black Heart particularly felt to happy about, but she didn't have many options right now.

'Siegfried, is it possible for me to use…?'

_…__It doesn't seem so, Noire. Unfortunately, it seems that whilst it doesn't necessarily restrict your other abilities in this form, your current form would make them much harder for you to wield. Perhaps with training you could change this, but aside from your Demonic Powers which are utterly unusable unless you switch to your Devil Trigger, an act I highly do not recommend since a lot of that power was sapped away by that Keeper of Secrets earlier, everything else will be harder to wield in this form. You can only rely on this for the time being, so you best learn how to fight in it better…_

Siegfried told her the truth, bluntly and honestly without hiding the gravity of the situation from her. Such things made Black Heart grit her teeth in annoyance, as whilst she didn't think things would have been good for those other powers, she had hoped something she could use could pop up somehow. Unfortunately, luck would not be on her side this day, she felt upon hearing this information. She recalled the effects Ashbringer had on her whenever she wielded it in her different forms in the past, and if she were honest, she'd say she had hoped that effect would have vanished upon it merging with her HDD Form… sadly, that wouldn't be the case here. 'Then I guess that I'll have to… huh?'

Just as she made to say something else to her companion whilst she continuously blocked and parried Arkham's sword swings, she began to notice something which quickly drew her attention. Was it just her, or did this guy's bones start to… crack? Not only that, but the more they collided with each other, the more the golden-haired Goddess began to see Arkham's movements becoming… stiffer, like something was starting to rust in him. At first, Black Heart thought that her eyes were playing tricks on her, but soon enough she realized something was DEFINITELY going down on Arkham's playing field… just like hers.

"What's wrong, getting cold feet now? You're getting so stiff…" Black Heart mocked as the two of them broke away once more, stopping on opposite sides of the battlefield. "What, finally starting to feel old age catching up to you, old timer?" Snark and sass, she could say she was decent at, but comedy would likely not fall to her as well as it did other people. Arkham didn't respond to her words, which only caused her to grin all the more, something telling her she may as well have discovered something to pull things back into her favour. With his lack of response clarified, Black Heart got back into her ready stance, aiming to attack again.

Well, that is to say…

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNG!

… Until she felt an enormous surge of Demonic Power explode out of Arkham's body, his fiery aura flaring wildly and dangerously. The surroundings around them began to heat up, Black Heart noticing this through how hot the Air instantly became just from the aura's presence. Steam rose from several spots on the surrounding pillars whilst more larger steam trials rose from spots over the semen-like surface, giving off the feeling of being in the idle of a sauna or perhaps a volcano about to erupt with its Magma. For an instant, Black Heart felt her breath escape her lungs as her Wings curved themselves in front of her, blocking the scorching heat from slamming into her face. Thankfully since her Wings were made from Light itself, they wouldn't overheat from this oppressive feeling, allowing her to peak through them towards Arkham, whose aura swirled around him like a violent tornado. All the while, his body randomly twitched and spasmed about, his arms sometimes jerking towards a random direction as his legs violently trembled, as if they were trying to keep what balance they upheld for the rest of the body.

As for Arkham himself…

**"****Ufufufufufufu… YOU say THAT, then? WELL… how ABOUT we SEE… just HOW far I can GO, shall we?!"**

The madman turned Demon happily screamed that out with a voice and tone belonging to someone from an insane asylum, making Black Heart scowl as she uncovered herself from her wings and held her sword defensively. Considering who she was fighting against, there would be no telling what he might attempt next, the guy was just that messed up in that bald head of his. However, despite this, Black Heart stepped backwards, her eyes slowly widening and her mouth becoming 'O' shaped when she saw what followed after the lunatic's words.

Raising his arms upwards, Arkham's body began to grow in size, arms expanding, winding, snapping all over the place, the works. The atmosphere's intensity gradually increased whilst sounds of flesh being torn and made anew filled both of their ears, one of them being stunned at the occurrence and the other looking more elated than one would when achieving 1000 organisms. That being's breathing became irregular, unstable and gruff, whilst his body gradually increased in mass alongside expanding outwards, faint roars being heard escaping his mouth. The sword that he carried sunk into his hand all the while, slipping into it as if it were a sheathe before travelling up the arm and into the demonized man's body. Whatever Armour his current form offered ended up being shredded like a serpent's skin as the transformation occurred, yet the mad Demon only cackled like the maniac he had become.

'This… this is…'

**"****I can FEEL it… THE Devilish POWER overflowing IN my BODY… the POWER of A DPUUUU!"**

In moments, the transformation completed itself, and when it did Black Heart could only describe what stood before her as some sort of twisted, slimy abomination which stood on multiple spiked appendages. The blob's fluids constantly circulated through its body, which possessed a second layer of flesh that protected the inner layers. Several Tendrils grew out of the Demonic blob with energy rolling off the damn thing in waves, much more so than anything previously that Arkham had unleashed prior to this. In fact, part of her wondered if the Barrier would fall due to having to contain so much power, but as proof of being a University Class piece of Wardcraft, the barrier still managed to hold whilst containing this vast power surge.

As she witnessed the sight before her, Black Heart narrowed her eyes in disgust as a similar feeling erupted out of her mouth in the form of a snort. "Ugh, really now? You choose to take THIS form instead of the other one?" she remarked in annoyance, wondering why the heck did she have to deal with such idiots. "Ugh, geez why am I always fighting the idiots of the world…?" Seriously, at least the previous form looked SOMEWHAT intimidating aside from the bug-like references, THIS one just looked completely stupid in comparison. Dull, boring and without any true shape to call its own… Hang on a minute. "On second thought, I changed my mind. This form suits you much better than that other one. That previous form's too good for you." Black Heart commented, smirking as she got ready for round two. "Oh well, lets finally get this over with, I've got a Nation to rebuild, no thanks to you."

**(Play Bleach OST – Heart Of The Battle)**

Roaring loudly into the space above them, Arkham became the first to move, leaping forth towards Noire with the intent of a full body slam. However, the blackette avoided his attack easily by strafing a full semi-circle around him, swinging her sword and launching a bunch of energy rays at the creature's back, energy rays which impaled the slimy hide of the creature Arkham had become without much trouble. At first Black Heart thought that this was a good thing since it meant she would have an easier time against this creature in this form compared to its previous one, however she got a rude awakening when the beams just… vanished afterwards, completely nullified by the Demonic Slime before her. 'Wh-What the…?' she thought, stunned at what she just witnessed.

However, she didn't have time to worry about it as Arkham instead spun around and launched one of his many Tendrils at her in a wide sweeping motion, causing Black Heart to jump over it. Though this turned out to be a bad idea when she saw several more Tendrils sweeping across the battlefield to strike her down, making it so that she had to slash away at them before they could restrain her. She slashed away so much that she ended up mistiming one of her slashes, allowing one of the limbs, which actually looked more like an arm with a 3 fingered clawed hand, to smack into her stomach, sending Black Heart flying across the battlefield and into one of the tentacle penis covered pillars.

She didn't stay down for long though, as upon recovering her senses by shaking her head, Black Heart looked up to see several appendages about to stab into her from above, so she instead rolled out of the way and used the momentum to get back into the air. Black Heart then held her sword at the ready as she dashed forwards towards her opponent, Arkham swinging his clawed arm horizontally to try and decapitate her. Just a second before she could get hit by the limb though, Black Heart literally vanished before the Demon's very eyes, reappearing beside him with her sword cocked back for a reverse upward swing, one which got launched a second later before being followed up by a downward slash, a rising diagonal slash, another diagonal slash but from the opposite end and going downwards, before finally ending it with a horizontal one. Between each slash, Black Heart had to adjust her grip accordingly, but she pulled through….

Until she got whacked away by one of the flailing appendages coming out of the beast.

Instead of repeating what happened earlier, Black Heart quickly recovered her bearings and flipped herself about, ending up righting herself and ready to parry any incoming attacks. Something which she had to do several times since Arkham's body shot out multiple Javelin-like projectiles at her, though this turned out to be a distraction for the massive form of Arkham to sink into the lake-like surface beneath them. "Oi! Come back here, you coward!" Black Heart yelled once she saw what had begun happening, quickly shooting over after destroying the Javelins to try and stop him. Upon getting close enough, Black Heart swung in a wide arc, though her blade just barely NICKED the bastard before he sunk into the surface beneath them.

'Tch, that bastard…! Talks a big game but can't back it up!'

_… __I question the need to tell her that, Rik…_

'What is it, Siegfried? Rik bothering you or something?'

_…__Rik wants me to tell you that Arkham wussing out is just like most men these days, they talk big but they're so limp-dicked that they can't do anything themselves…_

'… Big oof, but not an entirely wrong one.' Black Heart thought back with a wince, although she had interpreted it in a way where she didn't have to go tomato red from possible innuendoes in her mind. It didn't take her long to take herself away from such thoughts though, when she suddenly noticed several… blobby things starting to emerge from the surface around her, each of them quickly jumping out to reveal themselves to he shaped like demonic looking Dolphins. Dolphins which circled around her and eyed her with immense hunger and bloodlust. Each of them made various dolphin-like sounds whilst hanging their mouths open, exposing maw upon maw filled with blade-like sharp fangs. "What the?!"

One of them lunged at her before Black Heart could finish, and only through a mix of instincts and reflexes did she twist herself around one of them when it launched itself at her like an aerial torpedo, pashing through the surface as if diving beneath the ocean. 'Oh, so THAT'S how this is going to be…' Black Heart thought to herself, clenching a fist in front of her face with eyes closed, lips curved into a mad smile whilst her right brow twitched violently. A tick mark formed on her forehead at the impending annoyance she would be going through in a couple seconds, and when Black Heart sensed the second Dolphin coming at her back…

She flipped her sword and tossed it into the air way above them, reaching the barrier's edge.

The following moments all happened within a five second interval. As the Dolphin neared her back with its mouth open to take a bite out of it, Black Heart twisted herself around it and used the momentum to slam a reverse elbow down into its back, causing the Dolphin to gasp and disperse into particles. She didn't remain idle as she twisted again into a roundhouse kick, kicking away another Dolphin before using the momentum to follow up with a handstand, catching the third dolphin with her heels, using it alongside some impressive handstand movements to whack away the fifth and sixth Dolphins before flipping into the air and kicking her makeshift 'weapon' into the encirclement. She then dove down into a flying kick, curling her wings inwards in order to throw out a set of punches which shot out their own laser beams, piercing the with, ninth and tenth Dolphins. Upon sensing the eleventh coming from her right rear flank, Black Heart sidestepped slightly, just enough to dodge but still keep her close to the flying Dolphin to hook her arm around it, twirl around and throw it into the twelfth Dolphin. The thirteenth and fourteenth came at her both at the same time from different angles, so she jumped into a split kick right into the sides of their jaws before hooking her Heels into them and putting her hands on the surface below, twirling around in a helicopter kick. This resulted in taking out all the way to the nineteenth Dolphin, the ones on her heels dispersing afterwards. Rolling onto her feet again, Black Heart sensed the last one, the twentieth Dolphin. Coming at her from behind, though unlike the others she just stood there with one hand on her hip…

STAB!

Whilst her Sword came down from her previous throw and embedded itself into the Dolphin's skull, making it disperse whilst landing right beside her, Black Heart grasping the hilt and pulling it out for further wielding. 'Hmph, too easy…' the CPU of Lastation mocked in her head, smirking smugly whilst flipping a hand through her long hair.

_… __May I ask where you learned those moves?..._

'Thank Lid, I paid attention to some of her moves during our fights with the Demons, and figured it'd be a fun way to stick it to this bastard. His own Niece plays a part in witling him down…' she replied, glancing to the side from her floating position where she sensed Arkham's energy beginning to surface. It looked to her like Arkham was able to create those constructs from his own flesh and give them sentience, at least enough to control them into attacking her remotely. They must have taken a considerable amount of power to generate though, considering what she had been sensing from his emerging form. 'Though I'll admit, its not a pleasant feeling punching these slime balls, way too icky for me to properly do it…'

Cutting the connection for now, Black Heart flapped her wings, shooting forwards like a bullet towards Arkham when his body fully formed. At once, did the blob-like body instantly react to her attack, unleashing a load of Tendrils from its form which leapt towards her. Each of them had tips shaped like claws, intending to rip and tear her body to shreds, though they wouldn't het the chance to do so since she weaved in and out of them as if she were dancing. Upon getting close to her opponent, Black Heart entered a rapid and constant rotation, her blade being held as if prepped for a horizontal reverse slash, one which she made reality as she slashed across the demonic Blob's body. She even reinforced it with Light energy, increasing the glow surrounding her blade's edge which showed as the sign of this happening.

A loud roar escaped the Demon, one of pain and agony as the power of light shot through its body like a vicious cancer. In outrage at the attempt, Arkham swung one of his appendages towards her, intending to cut her in half at the mid-section only for Black Heart to shoot to his opposite flank and perform a pair of slashes this time, resulting in two lines forming a cross to be marked onto its body.

**"****AAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH! You WHORE!"**

Furious beyond belief, all Arkham saw was red, causing his body to ripple like crazy, his form trembling just as badly before it erupted with these HUGE ass spikes, something which Black Heart got caught by surprise at and thus got speared multiple times. "Gah!" she cried out, gritting her teeth when the Spikes abruptly retracted, her form falling to the ground in a twisted, mangled heap on the floor. Holes had been made over her thighs, stomach, torso (just barely missing her heart), biceps and neck, resulting in some SEVERE injuries which would have KILLED a normal person instantly. However, upon her landing on the ground, Black Heart glanced down at herself, noticing how each of her wounds began to glow in this brilliant golden colour, before they vanished in the next moment.

'Automatic self-healing, huh…?' the CPU of Lastation thought to herself, smirking as she slowly got to her feet whilst stabbing her sword into the ground and using it as a crutch to help her body, then ascending into her floating position before grasping the sword's hilt and pulling it out. 'Heh, that'd come from Ashbringer's ability to heal my wounds… though it doesn't seem to have restored any of my energy reserves…' she thought further, brows twitching slightly at this revelation. Guess some of Ashbringer's abilities had been altered drastically thanks to the fusion process then, if she couldn't restore her energy reserves with it no more. She then sensed something through her connection to Siegfried, something which caused her to open it and send thoughts through. 'You noticed anything?'

_… __It would seem that its worse than that, Noire. Your healing may be powerful, but it saps your energy in order to function and you cannot change that. Just like Demons do, but they can choose to stop or limit the healing their bodies gain from their reserves for preservation purposes. You cannot do that, and as such keep a mental check on your reserves, since once this form runs out there will not be a chance for you to regain power for it for a while…._

'Well, isn't that something…?' the golden-haired Goddess remarked, smirking with a light bead of sweat rolling off her body. Hearing his words only further reinforced the pressure she felt on her shoulders, all this fighting she'd been doing notwithstanding. She didn't want to think what could happen if she didn't defeat Arkham before she lost what power she had left to maintain her improved HDD Form, what with all these narcotic smells floating around curtesy of this Slaaneshi Demon World.

Sensing that there was danger coming, Black Heart looked to where Arkham had been, only to find nothing there. The Blob-like Demon had completely disappeared from her senses, something which irked her a little bit… although that irritation soon increased once she saw more Dolphins encircling her. 'Tch-wow I've been doing that a lot lately but anyways these things again?! Ugh, I don't want to bother with them like I did before… oh wait, maybe I could…' A thought entered her head when she remembered one of Ashbringer's abilities before the fusion. It was one which usually healed her wounds in a flash of Light, but there had always existed the possibility of her using that flash to blind enemies to expose openings in their defences, something she had never tried before.

Now though…

'Let's hope this works…' she thought, gathering light energy just as the Dolphins all gathered around her, eyeing her with a mix of bloodlust and desire with some even drooling from the sides of their jaws. Soon, one of them leapt at her when her right hand began to emit a golden glow, and in that moment a bright flash enveloped the area, catching the surrounding Demons off Guard. The flash ended up doing exactly what Black Heart theorized, blinding the Dolphin-shaped Demons, something she used to her advantage by quickly holding her sword out and dashing out of the circle, clicking her fingers with her free hand afterwards… dozens of slashes appearing over each of their bodies which resulted in them exploding into tiny chunks with loud SPLAT sounds, each one dispersing into particles afterwards. 'Yes, it worked!'

No sooner had she thought that, Black Heart sensed some Tentacles coming her way, so she quickly twisted around into a series of slashes, blocking the approaching limbs from spearing her. shifting her head, Black Heart scowled when she saw Arkham's massive form there. So far, it looked like her attacks throughout this half of the battle hadn't actually dealt as much damage as Black Heart had initially wanted, as although large thanks to the natural strength against non-human forces Ashbringer provided this new form with, it seemed Arkham's body had mostly repaired the damage already. To a point where it would be doubtful if any of that damage she had inflicted on it earlier had any real effect anymore.

**(OST END)**

**"FOOL! You are BUT a mere CPU! YOU cannot DEFEAT a PURE Demon LIKE me! YOU do not POSSESS the POWER NECESSARY to ACCOMPLISH such a TASK...!"**

Once again, Arkham acted like a typical villain and gloated before, her, his massive blob body swaying too and from on the appendages that it stood on. Black Heart gritted her teeth at the sight as annoyance flared up inside of her. "Heh, like the cliché villains, always boasting about your powers just before some twist happens and you get yourself owned..." she mocked back with a vengeful smile forming on her lips. Mentally though, she checked her power reserves, and couldn't help the twitch of her eyebrow. Despite her bravado, it seemed that she would have to finish this fast, as she seemed to be running low on energy to maintain this form. 'Energy's running a little dry here... Looks like I'll have to bet this on one last offensive, but I haven't found any weak spots in this form of his. As much as I hate to admit it, this form definitely came with its perks... if only I could find a...'

SLASH!

**"Wha?!"**

"?!"

Just as Black Heart and Arkham were about to continue their dual with the latter launching his clawed arm at his opponent, a sudden sword flash flew forth from above, slicing through the limb like a hot knife through butter. The severed limb fell to the lake-like surface beneath them, madly twitching and spasming out like a headless chicken, all the while the half still attached to Arkham's body retracted back to him. That wasn't important to him or Black Heart though, as the two looked towards the source of the attack to see whom or what had dared interrupt their bout, only to see a certain silver haired DPU kneeling with his arms outstretched on top of one of the tallest pillars. His arms lay outstretched, his Katana drawn and having just launched a slash given its position, giving him away as the one whom had attacked earlier whilst his head remained lowered to the ground. Behind him, there looked to be a massive gash, blacker than outer space itself and looking to be recently made... there was little need to guess whom had been responsible for making that, not to mention that the barrier which kept the damage inside it no longer existed in their senses, something both quickly realized was this man's doing as well. Slowly, the man looked up to leer down at the two of them, scoffing in their general direction although his eyes primarily laid their gaze upon the massive blob form Arkham had taken.

**"D-Damn YOU!"**

"I've come here to reclaim what is rightfully mine, mortal. You cannot even BEGIN to handle that much power..." The DPU known as Vicious stated with a smirk which matched his namesake, his eyes gleaming with murderous intent. Afterwards, he stood tall on the pillar before jumping into the air, front flipping several times before he landed beside Noire, standing tall whilst quickly flicking his sword and pointing it towards her chest. He looked towards her with one eye, a dark and serious look on his facial features...

One which prompted Black Heart to roll her eyes with a scoff escaping her lips. "geez, just like I said, typical villain cliché. Wonder if you all have read the same guidebook on being a generic, boring villain or is that just me?" she remarked, though mentally she also judged Vicious' reaction to her words to see what kind of stunt he would be willing to pull. Although she didn't show it, Black Heart did NOT like the thought of fighting both Vicious AND Arkham at the same time, especially in her current condition. It didn't look like Vicious was in top form himself, either, something which she sensed more than she saw. Looked like what had happened in their last bout still effected him to some degree, though he made a good show of hiding it. "And now, here you are stealing MY spotlight. What, you a momma's boy craving her attention or to go back into her womb for safety?"

At this, Vicious rolled his eyes in aggravation, wanting so much to just slice Black Heart right then and there. However, unlike previous battles, that wasn't his goal right now, not to mention she wasn't exactly in his way currently. Still, there was one other thing which he felt proved it unnecessary for him to kill her, something he provided to her as he stepped backwards once. "Well... you don't honestly believe THIS mongrel deserves to be the final boss, do you?" he retorted, flicking the severed limb back to the enemy with his Katana. Arkham caught the limb too, reattaching it to his stump of an arm, to Black Heart's annoyance and confusion. Why not just let him fight without that arm? Since he DID just cut it off himself, well...

But then again...

"For once, I can actually agree with you there. At least YOU pose more of a threat than this old geezer..." Black Heart replied, and although she didn't show it, she actually preferred to deal with Vicious herself rather than this waste of space. Not only did they have a score to settle, but Arkham had just... kind of butted in to their fight before, plus there was someone back in Gamindustri whom wanted to finish the guy off. It looked like Vicious felt the same way too. "How about this, a truce till this guy is sent back to Gamindustri as a mortal again, and afterwards we settle this."

Upon hearing her words, Vicious uncaringly shrugged his shoulders. "Fine by me, I get what I want in the end." he stated, not really minding the truce for now. If she had suggested it at any other time however, he likely would have just decapitated her for the mere THOUGHT of working alongside a weakling like her would have irritated him, it being a massive insult to his pride as a DPU. However, since she currently had been fighting Arkham in this place, and they both had a common enemy at this point, there wasn't much of a need to do anything else... that and they would only be doing this till Arkham was defeated anyways.

With their truce settled, Black Heart and Vicious turned towards Arkham, one of them striding forwards whilst the other did the same by floating. Yet, both of them had looks of dark, sinister intent on their faces with their blades gleaming menacingly.

**"DO you REALLY think YOU can DEFEAT me?! ONE MISERABLE excuse FOR a DEITY and ONE measly IMPERFECT DPU?!"**

"A weakling mongrel... like you... cannot POSSIBLY unleash... the full power of that which... you stole..." Vicious smoothly replied, eyes narrowed into a twisted glare which potentially had extreme ugliness behind it.

Black Heart shook her head, a sigh escaping her lips. "Don't bother, he'll only listen through the hard way." she advised, Vicious glancing at her through the corner of his eye before the two split off in different directions, loud war cries escaping their lips.

Flipping through the air, Black Heart landed over at Arkham's side, rearing her left fist back which glowed a golden light, all before repeatedly launching it forward to fire multiple Laserbeams. Beams which hit the Demon's side completely and releasing large orb-like explosions upon contact. She then flew forward with a single flap of her wings, closing the distance between them (dodging a few strikes from the Tendrils as well), before twisting into a reverse slash, cutting deeper into the Demon's hide thanks to her previous attacks.

Meanwhile on the other side, Vicious readied his Katana whilst adopting a quick draw stance, rapidly drawing and sheathing his blade multiple times, Spatial explosions littered the opposing side of the Demon whilst Arkham howled, unleashing a bout of Javelins in his direction. Vicious easily dodged them by flipping side ways, launching more spatial slashes all the while. He then dashed forwards, cutting through several Tendrils whilst slicing his Katana through the Demon's blob-like body, proving that his weapon remained more than capable of shredding through Arkham like swiss cheese.

Obviously this didn't sit well with said Demon, as he slammed dozens of Tendrils into the surface beneath them, both Black Heart and Vicious soon becoming surrounded by them when they rose out of the ground, forming a makeshift cage. This had the result of limiting their movements, well, that was what Arkham believed, but that belief got crushed when Black Heart shot through her 'cage' with her speed alone, before he could even TRY to order the Tendrils to rip into her, whilst Vicious simply sheathed his sword then did a quickdraw, slicing through all of them at the base in one go.

With the danger to his life being sensed by him, Arkham howled as he sunk into the ground beneath them, about 60 Dolphins rising up around the two in an encirclement with the intent of ripping into them to succeed where the Tendrils had failed. Each of the Dolphins constantly moved around them, forming a multi layered circle with each 'layer' moving in the opposite direction to the one in front.

"Fools... looking to die, are we? Very well..."

"Edgy as all heck lines aside, looks like Arkham's doing what he does best: play like a chicken."

Vicious and Black Heart (in that order), each commented on this spectacle, not really giving it much praise or anything noteworthy. In fact, to them it looked more like a bully trying to look more intimidating than they really were, and they wouldn't necessarily be wrong in that situation. Onn the opposite side of things, hidden away from the two of them, Arkham would have gritted his teeth in seething anger at the two mocking him, but he kept his cool. Being a calm and patient man was his forte after all, plus he had a strategy in play for them.

Having planned this for so long now, it wasn't surprising for someone like him to have some leftover tricks up his sleeve, although he was by no means anything pathetic like a Magician. With having paid attention to Black Heart's movements by secretly watching her battles (he had been pretty confident in his recon abilities, since nobody, not even the author, realized he snooped around) as well as accompanied Vicious on his little... feasts, he had a good idea of their attack patterns. Of course, a better idea would form if he fought the two together, but Arkham wasn't so stupid as to hope that would happen, instead he saw this as a minor nuisance at best. Only HE deserved to be better than the rest, only HE should have the power to rule Gamindustri as a true God. Any who dared try to take that away from him, he would ruthlessly butcher without mercy.

So, his tactic to deal with these two would be as follows: surround them with his Dolphin constructs, and have them constantly attack from multiple different angles as well as different layers. The first few had been merely to feel things out, experimentation as it were, but that time had passed now that Vicious had entered the fray. Still, that mattered not to Arkham, he didn't have to do much to change his overall battle plan. This encirclement would constantly reinforce itself thanks to him supplying Demonic Power to make more Constructs to replace those that were lost, in addition to that it will be difficult for them to slice them all in one go since they'll be constantly moving about, each layer moving in the opposite direction of the one in front to sow more confusion. He had this one in the bag...

Well, that was what he thought anyways.

As the two godly beings stood beside one another, eyeing their left and right flanks respectively, both of them glanced over to one another for a brief moment. In that moment, their eyes met, and it seemed as though an entre conversation passed between them in silence, making it impossible to tell what their intentions were. After that moment however, they gave each other subtle nods, so subtle one would have to strain their gazes just to make out the head movements they did... before the two literally vanished out of sight.

**'WHAT?!'**

Within his hiding place, Arkham scowled in anger as he mentally ordered the multi-layered encirclement to quickly form a cage around the space they had once occupied, cutting off any and all means of escape. He refused, he absolutely REFUSED to let them escape there and become more of a threat to him than they already were. He had gotten this far, he had acquired this tremendous godly power, only HE should be able to wield it! This for was merely a setback, he would-

The mental monologue got interrupted like a DJ abruptly halting the currently playing song, when all of a sudden... each and every one of the Dolphins abruptly EXPLODED in a shower of blood, guts, shattered bones and other bits of gore, dispersing into particles afterwards. It looked more like a cloud of blood which still hung in the air, one which was shaped like the dome of which the Dolphins had once occupied... though, that cloud soon vanished when a familiar pair of swords swung themselves to disperse it. This allowed Arkham's form, which slid up from the surface, to view the wielders inside of the cloud, alive and untouched by their surroundings.

**"Tch… DAMN you...!"**

Looming over the two, Arkham's massive form erupted with Tendrils and Javelins, slamming into everything and everything around him. To counter this, Black Heart and Vicious split to the sides again, their weapons glowing with their respective auras. Vicious was the one to counterattack first after the barrage ended, with him sheathing his Katana and unleashing a quickdraw spatial slash, all the while Black Heart held her left hand out to generate a sledgehammer the size of Arkham's current body, one she whacked him with moments later.

**"Guah!"**

Crying out, the Demonic man stumbled backwards, his multiple appendages flailing bout in pain whilst twitching like they had been severed already. The two didn't let him recover though, as they instead thrusted each of their weapons straight into Arkham's sides, sending their respective energies into him through them. More howls of pain came from Arkham thanks to this, but before they could pull each weapon out, Arkham swerved around and thwacked them with his flailing limbs, though thanks to the energies coursing through him like poison they weren't as strong as he would have liked. As such, they only landed a short distance from him, with both of them quickly glancing at their embedded weapons. Vicious's Katana and Black Heart's sword, sticking out of Arkham's body like two annoying itches which refused to go away.

So... they provided an alternative.

"Huh!"

"ha!"

Both reacted quickly before Arkham could regain his bearings. Rearing back his hand in a show of movement, Vicious launched a palm thrust towards the hilt of his sword with his legs spread apart. All the while, Black Heart twisted herself around for the purpose of winding up and amassing power behind her leg, then jumping into a reverse back kick which hit her OWN sword's hilt. As a result, both swords shot right through the creature's body, slicing through every shred of flesh and inner body structure that got in their way, whereas both of them quickly switched places in a burst of speed. As such, when their respective weapons surfaced from the other sides of Arkham's blob form, Black Heart grasped hers by its hilt and begun reinforcing t with Light Energy, whilst Vicious did the same with his Katana. The two then unleashed their own attacks on the bastard, Black Heart going for a series of strikes similar to Ashbringer's CRUSADER STRIKE and Vicious going for a repeated set of quickdraw slashes.

**"GUUUAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"**

Pain EXPLODED over the previous sensations Arkham still had been dealing with at that point, causing him to slouch backwards with his various appendages flailing about trying to attack them. Though, those which got close to them ended up getting sliced apart by Black Heart and Vicious respectively. The two quickly capitalised on this opening, bending their legs and leaping forth towards their opponent, the sole female of the two going for the upper area whilst the sole DPU went for the lower area. Rearing her sword back, the golden haired sword maiden flapped her wings and shot forwards ion a burst of speed, launching a reverse diagonal slash whilst Vicious pulled off a reverse horizontal slash empowered by his Demonic Energy.

SLASH!

SLASH!

BOOM!

BOOM!

Both attacks connected even as Arkham desperately tried to block them, most of his limbs being severed as a result of his valiant (?) efforts. Howls of agony erupted from him as Black Heart and Vicious landed behind him, the Goddess landing on a platform of Light generated by her so she didn't touch the surface, whilst Vicious had no qualms with touching said surface. Glancing over to him, the CPU scowled in disgust, her eyes flashing with energy as she spoke further. "How you can withstand touching that crap is beyond me."

"A trivial matter compared to the main objective, mongrel."

Bristling at the insult he directed her way, Black Heart nonetheless ignored it for the time being as the two turned back to face the writing Arkham, whom looked to be on his last legs as he struggled to reform his arms the hard way: AKA creating them from scratch. Well, he wasn't doing a very good job of controlling the chaotic energy into doing what he wanted and as such he expanded more energy than necessary to do so. The fact he had been detaching parts to form constructs didn't really help his case either, something both godly beings with their own superior experiences with similar energies noted to themselves.

With his senses so pain-jacked right now, Arkham STILL managed to perceive the danger set out before him, and at that moment he looked at the two differently, with a sense of awe, surprise and, well, no small amount of fear.

**"It CAN'T be...! You CAN'T...!"**

"I will take it from here." Vicious said as he drew his Katana and got into a battle stance. Black Heart made to say something, but then when she turned her head to look at him she noticed something glaringly obvious: the stance Vicious took wasn't his normal one. Instead of a quickdraw stance, he had taken his Katana out and held it in both hands behind him whilst crouched, as if he were making an upward slash. Not only that, but the Energy coursing around the blade, that being his Demonic Power, started acting strangely as instead of just merely covering the blade, it actually formed... well, a cloak of dark violet bubbles would be the best way to describe it. Kind of like the initial fox cloak those beast carriers in that big three shounen series showcased.

"And WHAT do you think your doing, there?"

He didn't even look at her, showing how much he looked down on the CPU whilst nonetheless answering yet not answering at the same time. "None of your concern, just know that this is the end for Arkham."

_…Wait, Noire, don't try to stop him..._

When Black Heart made to say something or, to be more accurate, try to stop Vicious from finishing their opponent off, she suddenly tensed upon hearing her Heroic Spirit telling her NOT to do that. Why? Well, she requested the answers out of that very same being. 'What do you mean, do you know something Siegfried?' she questioned him mentally.

_…if this attack is what I think it is, its best if you don't try to get too close, otherwise you will get hit and you will NOT like what would happen afterwards. Lets just say death would have been a better alternative, though do not worry, this attack isn't meant to kill Arkham, oh no its doing something much worse than that..._

It appeared the mentioned man also realized just WHAT kind of attack he had begun to utilize, as evident by the horrified tremble which his blob like body showed. His struggle to regenerate and strike back before the attack could be ready increased, although it would only prove to be in vein when Vicious smirked darkly and savagely, the attack prepared for use.

**"Don't DO it...!"**

At that point, at the peak of his despair at what would inevitably happen, Arkham resorted to begging, thinking that would help get him some more time to prepare to counter that attack. However, it fell on deaf ears when Vicious cackled like the Demon that he was, swinging his Katana in an upward arc. Thanks to that, the cloak covering the blade leapt off it, forming a double ended crescent which shot towards Arkham like teleportation, slicing him vertically in half without that body of his being able to put up ANY kind of counter to it.

**"GUUUAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH! No! THIS cannot HAPPEN! This POWER is... I must POSSESS the POWER of THE DPUUUUUUU!"**

Upon getting hit by those two halves, the massive blob body slowly started to vaporize into nothingness. The body slumped down helplessly onto the surface, unable to sink into it thanks to its lack of strength due to that attack. Not to mention how throughout the whole thing Arkham didn't stop any of his ranting, raving and insanity-filled rambles, likely only fuelled by the pain which came from tis vaporization process. In some areas, what could only be described as a blob-like head in the shape of a human's one sometimes tried to shoot out of the Slime-like body, but it in the end got pulled back inside no matter how hard he tried. It almost looked as if Arkham had begun trying to escape his inevitable fate, his efforts winding up in vein every time.

Black Heart, hearing his tormented screams, felt nothing but relief in knowing that she and Vicious had prevented him from becoming the God that he desired to be, although in her eyes even if they were defeated like this it didn't seem likely that Arkham ever COULD become a DPU, what with how his power couldn't be controlled by him and all. But even so, the fact that this was finally over didn't escape her, as she couldn't help the relief she felt over it. It didn't escape her attention that a small, well, small as in human sized, ball of light shot out the scene towards where the gate to the Human World resided, but Siegfried assured her that the Scholar wouldn't be a problem anymore, and when she had asked why...

She didn't really get an answer, as from the dispersing blob, several things got revealed:

The same Sword which Arkham initially wielded in that insectoid form,

The two Amulets which got separated from one another,

last but not least, a small glowing piece of... something, it looked like a fragment of something, but Black Heart guessed it was demonic in origin.

'Huh...? What...?'

At first, she blinked in confusion, before she noticed Vicious already dashing forwards towards them as the objects fell towards the hole in the centre of the surface. Her eyes then widened at seeing this, before they hardened into a steely gaze. 'Oh no you don't!' she thought, already shooting forwards as well. With the defeat of Arkham, their temporary truce had ended, and as such they didn't need to work together no more. It was time for them to settle their score here, once and for all, something that Black Heart could get behind. But first...

The two of them fell through the hole alongside the items, which would signify the start of their final clash. A clash which would decide just who would rise, and who would fall.


	36. Chapter 36 - Noire Vs Vicious PT1

**Chapter 36 - Noire Vs Vicious PT1**

Ever picture what it looked like for the archangel known as Lucifer as he descended from heaven after being cast out by God?

Well, that could be shown better as Arkham, back in his human scholarly form or rather, a mortal coil in his eyes, fell from the Demonic Portal down to the Temen-Ni-Gru's peak below. The man constantly screamed out in rage, pain and refusal to accept this outcome as actually happening to him, an outcome which he had ensured wouldn't have occurred in his many years of planning. His arms and legs flailed about like the limbs which he had once commanded in that powerful blob form, trying desperately to get back something which was no longer there. He even kept trying to reach out towards the portal, his eyes holding a pleading gaze beneath all the other things seen in them, desperately wishing to get back up there and retrieve what was rightfully his. Not only that, but there was something different about him, but that'd be a story for a bit later.

Fortunately, the fall to the Tower's peak wasn't a very long one, so it wasn't like he would be falling forever. However, that would be where the good news would end, since the moment he hit the ground, Arkham's eyes as PAIN and torment blazingly shot through him like white hot flames, causing him to howl out in absolute agony, like the many tortured souls do within the depths of hell itself. His screams filled the atmosphere as if he were a crying child calling out for his parent, unaware of their untimely fate and thus condemned to a life of suffering and misery. He had fallen onto his front when he'd impacted the tower's peak, landing close to its centre, though as he glanced down whilst screaming, he noticed a DEEP as all hell gash wound which spread itself diagonally across his chest, tearing through his clothes and reaching into the deepest parts of his body. Trembling visibly, he weakly raised a shaking arm as if it were a heavy weight, and slowly reached for the wound's edges. The moment his fingers graced its outer edges, the pain he felt increased tenfold, forcing him to bite the inner sections of his cheeks till blood started to fill his mouth, spilling out from the sides like a damn about to burst.

'Why…. Why am I not…?'

For a moment, the pain he found himself under made Arkham forget the previous battle mostly, especially the end part, but in a moment or two he remembered what had happened. He remembered the strike Vicious had dealt him, and for the first time in his life he cursed the DPU more than anything else he had ever hated, his eyes burning with searing malice and a desire to brutally murder, not a sign or trace of his usual calm demeanour. If he could do so without the pain in his body intensifying, he would have punched the floor beneath him in utter frustration, especially when the current revelation dawned on him: that he no longer had ANY trace of the delicious Demonic Power in him.

'That… utter wretch…! How dare he… how DARE he do this to me…!'

What Vicious had done… the thing was, originally since he had become a Demon from a failed ritual, he could have been considered an artificial hybrid of the two, but more human than Demon and with countless defects, like a prototype of something instead of the true product. There had been SOME perks to the power, but it also came with the psychotic madness which he could not have gotten rid of no matter how hard he had tried or the amount of people whom he had sacrificed in his pursuit of the black arts. As such, whilst he didn't look it he still had a strong presence of accursed humanity left in him. Humanity which he had thought would have been purged once he became a DPU. However, like those two had stated, that power had been way more chaotic than he had anticipated, making him transform into that form after he had lost the battle to keep it under control. To Arkham, that had been merely a small setback which he could have recovered from, someone of his calibre wouldn't have lost to some chaotic power so easily, well that's how he felt about it anyways.

He'd never know now though, as Vicious had pretty much severed any and all Demonic essence from his soul with that last attack, leaving him frail, mortal and worst of all, powerless once again. He was nothing but a mere human, a notion which utterly DISGUSTED him, with his soul being heavily damaged from the separation process. If anything, if he didn't try to preserve what soul he has left, then he'd pretty much be meeting with the grim reaper soon, something which Arkham REFUSED to let happen no matter what. As such, he slowly but surely forced strength into his arms despite the pain increasing because of it, his eyes burning with a resolve which had been hidden throughout his entire life.

'This… this is nothing….! I... I shall become a god…!'

With the pain as his sole companion, Arkham slowly began to pull his body along the ground towards the staircase leading back into the Temen-Ni-Gru, intending to find some way to heal himself temporarily in order to formulate a better battle plan. As someone whom had been immensely subsumed by demonic practices, he knew of a few methods he could take to restore himself to a level appropriate to return to that world and take what was rightfully his, although exceedingly dangerous. He had to repair his soul first though, as the separation process made it so that any attempt to pull off a Demonic Ascension Ceremony would utterly annihilate it from existence, something which Arkham obviously didn't like. He also refused to request the aid of Slaanesh or any other Chaos God, wanting to be his own person for eternity. This wouldn't be the end of him, he would bounce back from this, just like all the other times he had been riddled with setbacks.

'No one… here… can stop me…!'

CLICK-CLICK!

Just then, the sound of a gun being cocked filled the man's ears, causing him to tense in a mix of shock and dread. It felt so much like the sound the grim reaper made when it came to collecting the souls of the dead, at least to him, something which he did NOT want to face right about now. Not only that, but the sensation of killing intent in front of him all but confirmed that someone had come here and had seen him… with not the kindest of intentions either.

There could only have been one person who could fit that criteria…

Slowly, Arkham looked upwards, and low and behold, there stood the sol Spec Ops Agent who'd witnessed all these Demonic events taking place, the one who'd managed to keep herself awake through the spell on this City, Lid. The silver haired woman stood there, awake and well, holding a submachine gun to his face whilst looking down on him as if she were looking at an ugly, disgusting cockroach. Which, in a sense, she was, given whom it was she looked down at. "Well-well look at what we got here. I wake up, intending to find you and beat your ass, but low and behold, you've come to me…" she snarled viciously (mind the pun there) with her eyes teaming with unmatched malice. It actually made her look more like a Demon than a human, something which chilled Arkham to the bone right now since he had no way of fighting her.

"Little Blue…"

"DON'T…" Lid scowled harder as the intensity in her eyes magnified tenfold. She spoke that word whilst pushing the barrel of the gun into his forehead. "Call me by that name again. The only people who can call me that were mother and father. I've waited a long time for this… now reap wat you sowed, asshole!" Lid bellowed, already starting to pull the trigger.

Something which Arkham felt the colour leave his skin at, as he desperately called out to her with eyes wide and filled with fear. "Wait, please!" he called out, holding an arm towards her. "Can you really shoot me…? Can you shoot… your own Uncle…?" he asked her, thinking he would see some sort of conflict which he could use to exploit an opening to survive this. However, nothing appeared in those eyes of his niece's, causing him to shout out in a fit of anger, frustration and malice. "What did I do wrong!? Those DPUs sacrifice countless in their pursuit of power, so why can I not do the same?! Humans do everything I do and more, yet you condemn me?! I only desire to become a GOD! I sacrifice everything just for that purpose!"

"I know… I just don't care."

BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG- BANG- BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG- BANG-

BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG- BANG-

BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG- BANG-!

Several gunshot wounds rang out as Lid unloaded her Submachine Gun's last few rounds into Arkham's body, ripping through his Skull, shoulders and back all in one go. There hadn't been a time for Arkham to even think of a possible way to stop her or to ask for her help in finishing off his enemies for his ultimate goal, none of it. Lid wouldn't have any of it, no mercy and no remorse could be seen in her bloodlust-addled gaze. By the time the gun had ran out of bullets, the silverette tossed the Gun back into her Inventory, seeing n need to keep it out as she eyed the man's unmoving corpse. A pile of blood started to spread out from beneath him, staining the Temen-Ni-Gru's peak as she slowly sat down on the ground before him.

'At last… mission accomplished…' She thought, heaving a heavy sigh of relief. As a soldier, she felt nothing whenever she killed her opponents, be it enemy soldiers, monsters, Abnormals, Demons whatever. Those who stood in the way of her goals always met the same ugly ends, something which would be the case even here as she killed the last family member she had in this world. Lid had long since prepared herself for something like this, so she didn't really cry per say. Her tears had merely been exhausted a long time ago, making it so that she could never cry again. Still, despite her goal having been achieved, she couldn't help but worry for the CPU whom had helped make this possible, as whilst she looked upwards, she could see the Portal to that Demon World still being open. Not only that, but the more she looked at it, the worse she began to feel, almost as if it were a premonition of something bad about to happen. 'Lady Noire hasn't returned from the Demon World yet… hurry up, Lady Noire, your people need you, now more than ever…'

Falling through the centre of that area before hadn't been something that Black Heart had been looking forward to, even though a part of her felt that it would have happened at some point. Still, it surprised her that the tunnel itself didn't look too bad, all it resembled was this cylindrical corridor as she fell downwards, something which allowed her to catch sight of Vicious. Said man had already caught up with a couple of the objects, the sword and one of the Pendants, having snatched the two of them for himself already whilst also trying to grab at the last Pendant.

'Not gonna let THAT happen…!'

Black Heart thought this as a surge of desire took over her, a desire not to let Vicious have the other Pedant filling her mind. As such, she quickly flared her Wings and pumped energy into them, propelling her forth right past a stunned Vicious before grasping onto the Pendant. 'Yes, I got it!' she thought, before noticing how Vicious aimed a murderous glare in her direction, looking like he wanted to tear her a new one right there and then. 'Heh, well, sorry but it's not like I'll be letting that happen so easily…' she thought in mockery, a similar look appearing in her eyes.

Down below, the two could make out a bright light, which proved to them that they were near the exit to this little Tunnel of darkness. 'Wow, now that I think about it, tis could be any chuuni's wet dream, being in something like this…' idly thought Black Heart, before she noticed the sole other object which hadn't been touched yet. The object fell close by to her, even as her hair flailed about wildly from the influence of the corridor's gravity, and she would have just ignored it due to her not knowing anything about it… but, considering how even Vicious wasn't paying attention to it, Black Heart decided to ask her Heroic Spirit what was going on. 'What's this thing, Siegfried? I can sense Demonic Power in it…. Though its kinda weak compared to the stronger Demons.'

_…__That must be the power Arkham himself got gifted from his failed ritual. Vicious' attack must have separated it from his Soul, though I doubt that making him completely mortal was his intention. For easier reference, lets call it a Soul Fragment, a piece of someone's Soul severed from the main one. In any case, it would be wise for you to take it, Noire. For it will empower you and restore your Demonic Power reserves to full capacity, giving you the ability to Devil Trigger again…_

Well, having that kind of power beside her would definitely help things out a bit, Black Heart thought as she already felt her reserves of Share Energy dwindling into small embers within her. She would soon be unable to maintain her HDD form; she'd give it about 6 more seconds before it forcefully reverted itself. With that in mind, Black Heart quickly reached out and grasped onto the Soul Fragment as well, flipping herself about as she and Vicious fell through the white light.

Flipping through the light, Black Heart and Vicious both landed at the centre of a… well, it looked like the edge of a river, where it would then fall down to become a waterfall. Not too far from them was where the river dipped, falling into a deep, dark abyss below which looked like no light had ever entered it. Surrounding them looked to be the interior of… well, it looked like it had been once the interior of a skull belonging to a particularly large Demon. The bone looked to have rusted in many places, but the shape still remained, not to mention there were pillars scattered around the back of the skull. As for the river beneath them, it looked more like a river of red wine, given the smell it oozed by the dozens.

None of this bothered the two fighters any however, as the two of them landed on opposite sides of one another. Black Heart landed close to the tipping point of the river, with Vicious landing opposite her, both of them kneeling on one leg to soften their landings. Looking upwards from his position, Vicious (whom had strapped the obtained sword onto his back) made to demand that Black Heart hand over the other Pendant he needed for the Sword. "Give me the Amulet you-" but before he could finish, a bright flash enveloped the area, originating from Black Heart herself. By the time it died down a second or two later, the man lowered the arm he had used to cover his eyes and witnessed Black Heart having reverted to her human form. The long black hair, the crimson eyes which he sometimes wondered if they would suit a Demon better than a Goddess, everything matched up to what he had seen of her back when they first fought. "I see… so your out of power…" he remarked thoughtfully, a sadistic smile soon spreading out across his face. "Maybe this will… make killing you much… less bothersome."

This smile left his face soon after saying these words, as he soon noticed the Soul Fragment in Noire's left hand, the right holding on to the Pendant which she put around her neck, pulling her hair through the hole made by the chain so that it didn't obstruct her black locks. A second later, she crushed the Fragment, and his senses quickly picked up the energy inside of it entering her body, revitalising her Demonic Power and giving her back her Devil Trigger. This caused him to snarl like his namesake, his previous fighting experiences against her showing all too well how difficult she could be for him in that form. Well, that is to say, his PREVIOUS self, that is…

"And here I thought you needed this Pendant for some reason… I guess you wouldn't mind if I kept it as a souvenir, right?" Noire retorted backwards with a small smirk on her lips, summoning Balmung in its sheath onto her back, then drawing the large blade. She held it in two hands as she took on the sword mistress stance, ready for battle whilst mentally keeping her Samsara Arms on standby, in case she needed the extra limbs to cover for her blind spots. Having absorbed that Soul Fragment into herself so she could restore her Devil Trigger ability to its maximum, Noire had wondered if she could have gained anything else from it since that was something which had happened thanks to her Appetite Demon devouring other Demons to add their powers to itself. It was how her Devil Trigger Form manage to acquire the powers of those elements, albeit weaker than its main power of sound. However, Rik had informed her through Siegfried that this notion 'was just a bunch of bullshit since an inferior Demon like Jester wouldn't have anything useful to him' as Rik had said. So she didn't really gain anything else other than restoring her Demonic Powers, but that didn't matter as much, since she still had other options available to her. "Anyways, I doubt this'll work, but mind telling me what that attack you used on Arkham was?"

"That will not change the outcome of our fight… however, saying that I see no harm in telling you. Very well, its… the 'Soulstealer Slash'. A sword Technique which can slice an enemy's Soul like a nice, warm tissue paper, cutting the links between one and their abilities." He responded, taking a few pauses here and there and deliberating whether or not telling her would change anything. In the end though, it didn't really, as it wasn't like Noire could even use this technique in the first place, and to train in it one would have to have a great understanding of what a Soul even WAS in the first place. Training in that technique is NOT easy either, so informing Noire about it wasn't too much of a loss on his end. "Enough of that though, give me your amulet." He ordered, making the 'give it here' gesture with one of his hands.

At this, Noire placed a hand over her chest, glaring at him whilst filing that information away for later. "What, you already have your own, you know. Then again, I guess you DO need this for something after all." She retorted, not lowering her guard in the slightest. "What's their deal, anyways? They're just pieces of jewellery which help the user control this damned Tower."

"Hmph, shows what you know." Vicious snarled, gritting his teeth in her direction before he got into his quick draw stance. "No matter, you will be dead before you can even hit the ground soon enough. Now… DIE!"

**(Play OST – Thunderbolt Fantasy)**

Instantly, Vicious dashed forwards, his form nothing but a barely visible blur as he stopped right within Noire's defences, catching her by surprise at his speed. She didn't think of that for long though, simply defended herself by making to swing Balmung down to cut him vertically in two. However, a second before her strike got launched, Noire's eyes flashed, ad she quickly shifted herself into a more defensive stance. Good thing too, for the moment she did Vicious unleashed a sword swing, but not any sword swing like the ones he'd done before. This swing got reinforced with a cloak of Demonic Power, not like the Soulstealer Slash that he'd performed earlier as there weren't any bubbles, but it instead enlarged the blade to give it an extra bit of reach to it. Coupled with enhancing its blow, Noire gasped when she got sent flying towards the edge of the tipping point, just barely catching herself by sliding along the stone at the end which cut the river flow in two. "Hmph, jumping backwards at the last second to negate some of the force from my blow…" Vicious stated as he placed his right leg in front of his leg, holding his Katana with its edge pointing upwards, his left hand gripping the hilt whilst his right gripped its backside. "Guess you DO have some skill in the art of the sword…"

'Whew, that was close…!' the blackette thought whilst breathing slightly roughly, a slight bead of sweat forming over her brow at the almost instant loss she could have experienced. It had been just as Vicious had said, just at the last moment Noire had pulled off some evasive tactics to lessen the impact that blow would have had on her lest she get sent flying over the edge and down into the depths of the abyss below them. She did NOT want to expire THIS early into the fight.

Danger registered in her mind, and Noire looked to the source to see Vicious already closing the distance between them with a single step, drawing his sheathed Katana to launch a quick draw intending to take her off at the head. Noire reacted promptly though, raising Balmung and holding it out in front other like a knight would with a Greatsword. She held the hilt with her left hand below her right and pointed the blade directly upwards like when a clock had both arrows pointing at 12. The moment their sword collided, Noire used the impact to bend herself backwards, deflecting the blow over her before pivoting around her opponent and swinging diagonally from a reverse angle at his back, something which Vicious responded to by bringing his Katana over his shoulder and diagonally blocking it.

Her attack failed, Noire pulled back by hopping away from him, as well as the edge of the rock to get some distance between them. She didn't have enough time to launch a full powered TWILIGTHT SLASH from Balmung right now, but Noire didn't worry about that. Instead, when Vicious blurred towards her, that instant became all she needed to sprout her Samsara Arms and cross them in front of her, blocking the thrust aimed at her neck. Obviously, Vicious got caught by surprise at this as evident by the slight widening of his eyes, something which Noire took advantage of by pushing him back as if she were bashing with a shield, knocking him off balance. She quickly dropped down low and lashed out with a sweep kick to his sole remaining foot on the river, taking away what little balance Vicious had left and knocking him to the ground.

The DPU scowled when this happened, and upon sensing danger coming towards him the man threw an arm downward and shot a blast of Demonic Power like a gun, using the recoil to propel himself upwards into a front flip. This not only served to help him avoid Noire's thrust towards his side as well as the double palm thrusts from her Samsara Arms, but it also et him bring his Katan down for an overhead slash. A slash which Noire blocked with her Samsara Arms. As a result, the two remained in a deadlock, struggling to overpower one another for a moment, until they hopped backwards till there was about 3 meters space between them. The next thing an outsider would see, would be them clashing in a series of sword strikes to their vital areas, each of them intending to absolutely SLAUGHTER each other with their swings.

SLASH-SLASH-CLANG- SLASH-SLASH-CLANG-SLASH-SLASH-CLANG-SLASH-SLASH-CLANG-SLASH-SLASH-CLANG-SLASH-SLASH-CLANG-SLASH-SLASH-CLANG-SLASH-SLASH-CLANG-SLASH-SLASH-CLANG-SLASH-SLASH-CLANG-SLASH-SLASH-CLANG-SLASH-SLASH-CLANG-SLASH-SLASH-CLANG-SLASH-SLASH-CLANG- SLASH-SLASH-CLANG-SLASH-SLASH-CLANG- SLASH-SLASH-CLANG- SLASH-SLASH-CLANG-SLASH-SLASH-CLANG-SLASH-SLASH-CLANG-SLASH-SLASH-CLANG-SLASH-SLASH-CLANG-SLASH-SLASH-CLANG-SLASH-SLASH-CLANG-SLASH-SLASH-CLANG-SLASH-SLASH-CLANG-SLASH-SLASH-CLANG-SLASH-SLASH-CLANG-SLASH-SLASH-CLANG-SLASH-SLASH-CLANG- SLASH-SLASH-CLANG-SLASH-SLASH-CLANG-!

Their blades flew about their small space in the battlefield, looking almost like flying projectiles as their wielders quickly and nimbly executed one sword slash, thrust, riposte, block etc after another. Initially, Noire herself had the advantage in their little slash fest due to her two Samsara Arms, as they helped function both as offense as well as defence-oriented weaponry. Sometimes they would guard Noire's blind spots whenever Vicious pulled feints and went for exposed openings in her defences, whilst other times Noire would strike away at him with them similar to a set of men from the same bloodline that spanned entire generations.

Eventually, the two separated completely, putting a total of 6 meters distance between them whilst keeping their swords ready for any attack. An attack Vicious himself launched by summoning a whole ring of energy swords and launching them at her at the three meter mark. To counter this, Noire put Balmung in front of her in a horizontal position, before her hands began t twist the weapon around a full clockwise rotation, forming a circle in front of her which shattered the Swords upon contact. Upon their landing, they slid across the river a little bit before coming to a complete stop, entering a staring contest right afterwards. For a moment, a tense silence overcame them as the sounds of the rushing river beneath them filled their ears. That silence lasted for a long ass time, to be sure… until finally, Noire decided to be the first one to speak for the two of them. "Exchanging sword blows is all well and good, but how about you stop being so stubborn and show me what you've REALLY got, huh?"

"Stubborn, you say?" Vicious responded lowly, narrowing his eyes at her. "I do not wish to hear that… from YOU of all… people." He stated back at her, but then he continued on after a moment's worth of deliberation. "Then again, all this sword slashing is proving tedious. It would be best to finish this quickly… very well then." With his mind made up, Vicious drew the sword on his back, sheathing his Katana beforehand which Noire tensed up at the sight of it. She knew well how good a swordsman Vicious was, so a new type of sword in his hands could spell trouble. She just didn't know HOW much trouble… something she would soon be answered on in a few minutes.

Taking his Amulet and placing it on the sword, Vicious narrowed his eyes at the resonating dark violet aura coming from it. "…Only that much… I see…" His words weren't very audible, especially since Noire herself stood a fair distance from him… but seeing what she did provided her some clues as to what was going on. "Still, its just barely enough… I suppose that will have to do, then." He whispered under his breath, before looking up towards the blackette with a steely gaze. "It's finally time… that I took you seriously, mongrel."

'Oh, I'm so going to enjoy wiping that arrogant look off your face, you bastard…' Noire thought as she quickly activated her Devil Trigger, becoming Abyss Heart once again. With Chaoseater gripped In hand, the demonic being floated before her opponent, ready and willing to tank whatever Vicious would throw at her like the boss she was. Holding the massive weapon before her, Abyss Heart shifted it so that she could make a two-handed upward slash from her right side, angling the blade slightly downwards whilst bending forwards slightly…. Finally, she blasted forwards to clear the distance between them, swinging her sword towards his head. In any ordinary circumstances, she would have just hit him, or he would have blocked her right then and there…

Too bad this was NOT one of those normal circumstances.

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGG!

An eruption of energy exploded forth from Vicious' body, creating a shockwave which abruptly threw Abyss Heart backwards whilst saturating the air with its pressure. Whilst she managed to flip herself back into an upright position and stop her motion by stabbing Chaoseater into he ground, her wings unfurling behind her to assist, Abyss Heart glanced back to him to see what had happened. Only, she didn't manage to see anything beyond Black Lightning with a dark violet outline erupting from Vicious and ensnaring him in a cocoon, similar to how flames would do the same for her own DPU Comrade. 'Tch, not good, looks like we've got a true DPU on our hands here…' Abyss Heart thought as she pulled Chaoseater out and held it in front of her.

_…__Worse, I'm afraid. It appears that Vicious has gained a portion of that power sealed within that sword by fusing it with that Amulet. That spells trouble for you, Noire, as even in Devil Trigger form you will NOT be able to last very long against him in this state. Your only saving grace is that this power isn't completely unsealed yet thanks to you possessing the other Amulet…_

'Well, thanks for the vote of confidence, Siegfried…' Abyss Heart countered sarcastically, gritting her teeth as some sort of bladed weapon slashed through the Lightning, dispersing it harmlessly to reveal Vicious in a completely new form. His new form stood at least 7 feet tall, with an imposing dark violet aura radiating from him head to toe whilst his surroundings constantly crackled with dangerous looking black and dark violet outlined Lightning. His head was mostly covered by a helmet which covered the top portion of his head, keeping his hair covered but with some multi plated flaps which covered the back and sides. His face got covered by a dark violet coloured mask which only exposed his mouth as well as his two violet eyes which sported those slitted power button symbols. On top of the helmet, were a pair of twisted looking devilish black multi-plated Horns, both pointing forwards. Beneath his helmet at the base of his neck, there were signs pointing towards him wearing a skin-tight black cloth under suit, one which had multiple pieces of armour over it. On the torso, there was a violet chest plate which went around and under his armpits, whilst the shoulders had two rectangular violet shoulder guards going down them and the backs of his triceps to his elbows. His hands up to the elbow joint got covered in violet gauntlets which ended in matching gloves, whilst his waist sported a 'skirt' made from violet waist guards which protected the front, sides and backside. For the legs, he wore a set of baggy trousers with knee guards attached to them, his feet covered by armoured boots. From his shoulder blades, two bone-like metal structures shot out, going behind him and forming two skeletal looking metal wings, each with three digits and a curved talon for a thumb. Finally, was the weapon in his hand, and… whoo boy, now THAT was a weapon she hadn't seen yet.

Well, the weapon itself looked like some type of sword, but that would be all she could tell about it, as everything else about it completely defied her knowledge of such weapons. The sword itself was comprised of two swords stuck together at the hilt, with a gap between the two blades and their tips connected. It wasn't anything like a common sword nor anything Noire had faced previously. The entire weapon simply pulsated with power like a living beating heart, its aura giving off a strong sentience despite it also feeling somewhat incomplete.

'Gu-Guh… this power…! I've never felt anything so intense, before! It feels like something's trying to crush my heart and lungs at the same time…! And Siegfried said this power was still only incomplete…?! So… this is a DPU's DDD other than Nico's, huh…?'

With the power she could sense swarming around Vicious right about now, Abyss Heart began to see the truth in Siegfried's words, any resistance to admit that fact having been smashed to nothingness by overwhelming brute force. In fact, it felt like a major understatement if she mentioned how she would have to pull out everything she could if she wanted to win against this guy.

Floating before her just like Abyss Heart did currently, Vicious released a breath from his lips, a trail of violet smoke escaping into the atmosphere which constantly sparked with lightning (somewhat reminding Abyss Heart of that bitch, Nevan). He then held his sword at the ready by its hilt, narrowing his glowing eyes at her whilst his aura completely dominated the atmosphere. "Now then, girl… let me show you just how OUTCLASSED you are, in the eyes of a DPU!" He bellowed, before he instantly closed the distance between them with a diagonal swing from the left to her shoulder already in motion.

'Crap!' Abyss Heart barely caught the blow in time, the impact sending her backwards whilst the two still remained deadlocked. If she had her feet into the river she could have dug her heels in, slowing her motions, so instead she simply pushed the swords upwards and engulfed Chaoseater in flames, bringing the blade down onto her opponent. However, Vicious simply vanished from sight before the blade reached the halfway point, resulting in Abyss Heart missing by a wide margin and releasing a large fiery wave from her sword. 'He's gone! Crap again, where is he?!' her panicked mind frantically yelled at her whilst she looked around, searching for any sign of her opponent.

"Foolishness…"

Sensing danger behind her, Abyss Heart flared her wings and ascended upwards, barely avoiding a strike from behind which could have completely cut her in half at the waist… although to her horror, she discovered that her left leg still suffered a slash wound at the back of her thigh. 'Tch, I wasn't fast enough…' the demonic Goddess thought as she flipped through the air and shot downwards towards Vicious' position, swinging Chaoseater towards the back of the man's head. Her wings flared with Demonic Power coursing through them as well as the rest of her body, enhancing her speed so she could stand a better chance of catching the enemy DPU off guard.

Unfortunately for her, Abyss Heart's strike again only hit air, a wave of sound shooting out the blade and splitting the river where it touched as it flew off into the distance. She then gasped, the air in her lungs suddenly going 'fuck this shit, I'm out!' with the one responsible having driven his Sword's hilt into her abdomen from her left side. He then followed up with a clenched fist being driven forth into a furious uppercut, one which impacted her in the chin and sent her flying into the air. Upon reaching the apex of her little trip, Abyss Heart saw through a weakly open right eye how Vicious jumped after her with his sword poised in a similar stance to a quickdraw one, causing that said eye to widen in both shock and horror. 'Seriously?! He can do that in the air, too?!'

SLASH-CLANG!

"Guh!"

Just as he swung the multi-bladed weapon, Vicious stared blankly as Abyss Heart managed to barely angle Chaoseater into his weapon's path a second before it could reach its target: her waist, with the intention being clear as crystal. However, the young Goddess couldn't stop the impact force from launching her crashing down into the side of the river, causing a small eruption of dust to be released. Vicious didn't remain content with this outcome however, instead he raised his free hand to the space above his head, holding up an index finger. At that point, around him dozens upon dozens of energy swords materialized into existence, until they reached to about 80 in numbers. Thanks to the limited space, they each got closely lumped together, but that wasn't of any major consequence to him, as he pointed his finger towards where Abyss Heart had fallen. As such, each of the blades started raining down like a shower of death upon Abyss Heart's position, his eyes gleaming with twisted malice behind their stoic expression. "Enough hide'n'seek, whore. Come out and face me like a true warrior…" he stated coldly, constantly summoning more energy swords to replace the ones he'd launched.

A couple seconds passed, before something shot out of the larger dust cloud, covered in the stuff at first until it cleared away to reveal the one whom he had been seeking, an absolutely furious expression on her face with multiple energy swords sticking out of her back. 'Tch, that sick, sadistic son o a bitch…' she thought to herself, cursing under her breath when he clicked his fingers, and each of the swords impaling her exploded into showers of purple, sending stinging waves of pain through her system. It wasn't enough for her to fall however, something which Vicious took note of as he summoned another ring of Energy Swords around him. 'Really?! He's going to make more?!'

_…__It Seems to be a particularly favourite technique, be careful not to let any more hit you, Noire. It will make your situation all the more perilous…_

Confidence boosting words aside, Abyss Heart began flying around the area in erratic, twisting and randomized flight patterns, performing all kinds of different aerial manoeuvres upon Vicious sending those Energy Swords at her. With her movement being quite fast, although nothing even CLOSE to what she could do as Black Heart, Abys Heart quickly and cleanly evaded the attacks launched at her, though she couldn't get much of an opening to respond to his advances. Countless violet explosions rung around her, Vicious constantly detonating the Energy Swords as to try and trap her. Fortunately, Abyss Heart found there to be predictable signs of his traps if she truly looked for them, so she managed to avoid the fate of getting skewered by them.

Eventually, she managed to slice apart a couple Energy Swords she couldn't avoid, causing Vicious' eyes to widen in slight surprise which broke through the DPU mind regulation. This ended up giving her the opening she had been waiting for, so who was she to take advantage of it? Rearing Chaoseater back, Abyss Heart unleashed a lout war cry as she flung the blade downwards, launching a spiralling torrent of Sound from the blade which slammed into Vicious the following second, causing him to gasp as he got sent crashing into a bone pillar. 'Yes, I hit him!' Abyss Heart thought with a victorious smirk emerging onto her features. 'Take that, you edgelord wannabe!'

"Once more, foolishness…"

His voice then unexpectedly echoed through the entire area, carrying a haunting, bone chilling feel to it which could rival that of an icy cold chill from the coldest mountains. Abyss Heart tried to suppress it, but she couldn't' help the chills which ran down her spine upon hearing that voice, especially when a slight violet blink from the place Vicious crashed became the sole sign of his returning counter-offensive. One which took the form of a large beam attack which hit her dead one, causing Abyss Heart to howl out in sheer agony as the opposing DPU's energy entered her body, wrecking its shit even in her current form from the inside out. Her howls didn't stop there as she fell to the river in a diagonal angle, one of her lower and upper Demonic wings completely gone as well as much of her suit, Armour parts and one of her horns too. She fell at a diagonal angle, spiralling all the while until she crashed, bouncing along the river to the back of the skull before rolling to a complete stop.

Gritting her teeth, pain surged through her senses stemming from her destroyed Wings, though this did not succeed in keeping her down as Abyss Heart placed her hands onto the river. She used her arms to push herself upwards, coughing up some water which had gotten down the wrong windpipe, all before looking back towards where Vicious had been to see him float out of the dust, not even one SPEC of injury on his person. He then shot down towards her with his wings curled inwards, practically divebombing at her so Abyss Heart quickly jumped out of the way, causing him to slam into the ground instead though this didn't hold him ack much, as he simply rolled across it till he got into a crouching position and slid along the river till he halted.

Meanwhile, Abyss Heart went to float back into her regular position, only when she tried to lift herself, she gasped in shock when she wobbled about upon ascending off the ground, until she practically fell flat onto her front, ungracefully as well. 'What?! I can't float?!' she screamed in her mind, before she remembered what had happened to her wings and looked to them, seeing how utterly WRECKED they looked. 'Damnit, that attack earlier busted them up… there's no way I can fly like this…' she thought, biting her lip so hard that if she were in her human form, she would have made it bleed. That wasn't good, a staple of these transformations she had seen as commonplace in Gamindustri would be that whenever they transformed, they would always have the ability to automatically float, thanks to their wing units which were exceedingly hard to damage. Even DPUs seemed to adhere to this little trait, since in their DPU Forms they would always float as well. As such, none of the CPUs had tried to bust each other's Wings before. Therefore, what Abyss Heart was experiencing currently, seemed to be exactly what would have happened if one succeeded in such a thing… and just like she had suspected, Abyss Heart did NOT like it one bit.

'This… This damned…'

As she looked towards the approaching Vicious, his blade shining brightly within that aura cloak it had, Abyss Heart growled like an animal under her breath, her eyes starting to shine their respective colour. A flame of Anger swelled inside her chest at the sight of him, the one whom had reduced her to this, all the while she hadn't been able to inflict ANY kind of injury to him. But more than that, frustration also mixed itself in with her fury, frustration at herself for letting things get this bad. Here was someone with so much power under his belt that he looked down on those who weren't as strong as him like they were nothing more than flies to be swatted. He eerily remined her of Mundus, a DPU whose power practically DWARFED his own if she were honest, even if he were at full power, she doubted Mundus would have had much trouble finishing him off. In her mind, she imagined him as that said DPU, the one whom defeated her without mercy and mocked her down to he her core all the while. Images of the battle at Halo Mountain played out in her mind, causing her feelings to intensify, shown by how her aura started to shift and contort in random, complex mannerisms, not something Vicious concerned himself with. To Abyss Heart however, he didn't register to her as Vicious, but the DPU whom had defeated her before, reducing her to a state she NEVER wanted to be in ever again. She had to get him back, she HAD to get her revenge on that bastard for humiliating her like he did. He was her greatest obstacle, not this guy. HE was the one whom she had to defeat no matter what, NOT this guy! Vicious? What a chump! Compared to Mundus, he's practically SMALL FRY! And Abyss Heart REFUSED to lose to a small fry until she had defeated her greatest enemy!

The more he got closer, the greater her feelings became, until finally she couldn't take it anymore.

"Damn… D-Damn… DAMN YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!"

That scream tore itself from Abyss Heart's lips as she raised Chaoseater to the ceiling above them, Vicious' eyes widening slightly when he noticed a MASSIVE build-up of power taking place within the young woman. 'Hm?' he wondered, momentarily curios as to what it was before pushing it aside since it didn't mean anything, he'd still get what he wanted in the end no matter how hard she struggled. This had been his thought process as he stepped within about 6 feet away from her, with his sword poised to thrust forth and impale her right through the heart.

But then she brought the blade down…

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Upon the blade touching the river before her, Abyss Heart's Chaoseater emitted a sound similar to a roaring dragon, filling the air and rapidly destroying the surrounding dominance Vicious' aura had, whilst knocking the man backwards. That wasn't all however, as at the same time the blade also released a torrent shaped blast of sound just like it did before… only, this time it looked GIGANTIC, as in it blasted apart the entire top portion of the skull's upper jaw whilst shooting out of it like the skull was once again breathing some kind of sound breath attack. Whilst this happened, the DPU himself found himself being blown out of the mouth as well, right above the deep, dark abyss below thanks to the sheer force behind the attack… with more than a couple deep wounds over his form. His left shoulder guard was missing, likely destroyed, with several gashes on the shoulder down the biceps to his elbow, the same being equally true for his right shoulder guard and left knee one. Multiple areas of his suit thus looked shredded as well by the sound torrent, with his wings having more than a few cracks and indentations filling their forms too, a similar thing being shown on his sword as well. A trail of blood ran down the side of his head, covering one of his eyes and forcing him to close it, the trail's source coming from a space above his eyebrow which was exposed thanks to that section of his mask being destroyed.

So yeah, he did NOT make it out of that unscathed…

But on the other hand, upon seeing the target of his ire come out the generated smoke and stop before him, at least 30 feet away, his ire changed to confusion upon seeing her. "Hm? This form… Ah, I see." This confusion lasted only for a brief moment, before Vicious' expression shifted from confusion to surprise and lastly understanding. "Whilst that was indeed a slightly more impressive attack than your usual… its not without its costs…" he stated, eyeing Abyss Heart, or rather Noire in her Dragonblood Form, her weapon of choice being Balmung. Upon seeing this, Vicious circulated his Demonic Power through his body, expending it to heal his wounds and restore himself to his prior state, recreating what was lost and all, which only took a couple seconds. "That attack may have been powerful, but it drained you of every spec of Demonic Power at the same time. Now, you can no longer rely on the Goddess or the Devilish powers you have gained, two of your 'supports' have been destroyed as a result."

"Sheesh, someone's surely loving their own voice. Does anyone ever tell you to shut up or am I the first?" Noire retorted in annoyance, even though what he had told her wasn't necessarily wrong. She refused to let him see that he had gotten her there, since that attack MAY have destroyed the skull they had fought in, but it also took out what power she had left for her Devil Trigger, making it so that she could only rely on her Dragonblood Form for flight. Then again, it wasn't a complete loss, since she still had her other weapons, Balmung, and her own skills to fall back on. Fighting defensively wasn't working all that great for her anyways, plus now that they were in a large open space, she could go ahead and just let loose the power of her Noble Phantasm.

So, with that in mind, Noire held Balmung at the ready and began charging it for its signature attack, the jewel on its blade starting to glow as a sign of its charging. Vicious of course noticed this, and quickly made to rectify the situation by swinging his sword diagonally, launching a Demonic Energy wave which constantly released countless small sparks of Lightning. Seeing this coming at her at high speeds, speeds she believed were as fast as real Lightning, Noire quickly reacted by swinging Balmung upwards whilst containing the power stored inside it's jewel. She did this so that she didn't waste the blade's power, as her own reserves weren't all that high thanks to her HDD Form, but after her swing her draconian eyes widened when she saw Vicious appear before her with his sword held in his right hand, going for a slash horizontally across her neck. Quickly, she strafed backwards, causing the sword to miss its target...

SQUELCH!

…Or not, as Noire soon found out through sight and touch when she looked down, seeing a slight gash just beneath the base of her neck. 'Whew, that was a close one! I could have been butchered just then, close indeed!' she shrieked mentally, stopping her movement and glaring back at the perpetrator.

Said person looked at her with a mild look of annoyance, holding the left cheek of his mask which had been destroyed, twisted edges on it showcasing the sloppiness of the job attempted. 'During that exchange, that woman used her Tail as a weapon, stopping me from going deeper into her neck whilst also propelling herself away from me at the same time...' he thought, summarizing that instance between them pretty well as he held his Sword in two hands, his Mask reforming until it was as good as new. 'No matter, this will only end in one way... my victory.' he thought as Vicious' aura started surging once more.

All around them, a strong pressure layered itself onto the surrounding atmosphere. Storm clouds gathered overhead, swirling around their battlefield like some kind of chaotic whirlpool with violet purple lightning bolts shooting through them. Loud tremors filled the air, and countless eruptions took place in the distance, a sign that lightning strikes were reigning a full continent's worth of space throughout the Demon World. If they could, the two of them would have heard the furious shrieks of Demonettes and other such abominations as they were rudely awoken from their blissful experience by the unforgiving hand of death itself.

'This pressure...' Noire thought as she held Balmung at the ready, her Sword Mistress Stance all set up with no chance of her being caught off guard by the same tactic twice. 'Looks like... this battle will be the longest one I've fought in yet. This guy obviously isn't going to let me get away with this Pendant, not when it holds the ability to do what I think it does...' she thought as she gazed upon the magnitude of Vicious' aura, one which shaped itself around him to resemble that for a classical demon whilst his two eyes shone with a rectangular shine, sparks of Lightning shooting around and off his form in waves. This, THIS was a DPU in DDD Form that was an ENEMY, not an ally like she had seen Nico and Crimson Soul as. This would be the strongest foe she would face in this adventure, way more than that Keeper of Secrets, but in the end it wasn't anything like the fight with Mundus. This guy could hardly compare to him, proof being that she was able to actually wound the guy before.

Both sides, with their own thoughts and belies, stared each other down, eyeing one another with a twisted sense of scrutiny and bloodthirsty murder radiating from their very beings. Neither of them would be bowing down here, not until one of them had utterly shredded the other into many small pieces, for that would be the ONLY thing which could satisfy the conflict born between them. Just by locking their gazes, both Noire and Vicious understood this fact on a principle level...

and with these ideologies...

"HAAAAA!

"UUUOOOO!"

CLANG!

The two clashed for what would be the final battle.

**(OST End)**


	37. Chapter 37 Noire Vs Vicious PT2

**Chapter 37 - Noire vs Vicious PT2**

**(Play Shadow the Hedgehog OST - I am all of Me Final Doom version)**

The power to fight, it is sought as an objective, goal or an ideal by many. To have power, meant one had a say in the way things were done, Politicians with political power behind them had more say in matters of state, Soldiers who had greater combat prowess tended to stay alive longer on the battlefield for they knew how to navigate it even if the battlefield was like a fickle mistress, all the while leaders with greater charismatic would stand a better chance to have people listen to what they want to say. Power in and of itself though, means many things, it can be physical, mental or emotional, there are just too many definitions to it to properly define the word 'power'. As such, people tend to throw that word around quite often, often to use as a leverage to settle whatever petty argument that they are having. If someone has more power than another, then they will inevitably force the other, weaker party to fold beneath them, for power in the end was a fundamental part of life itself. It helped make the world go around, it started and ended life cycles, it did so much that any kind of being can't even BEGIN to fathom it all.

Sadly however, power is mostly seen in a rather… limited mindset, people often seeing it as a means to force others to submit to their whims. To carry out horrible injustices then flaunt their so-called 'power' over the keepers of justice in order for them to turn a blind eye to it. This kind of behaviour, something which is seen as horrid, unfair, not right, wrong, etc is unfortunately what the majority of life's, population believe, for the effects of power can be felt in even the slightest corners of the universe. This causes people whom are oppressed or are exposed to such behaviour constantly to rightfully think that power will eventually corrupt those who wield it, turning them into complete opposites to what they once were. As a result, people are always, ALWAYS wary of those who carry power, no matter their intentions, its practically engrained into their very beings from the moment they are brought into being.

On the other hand, this may not necessarily be the wrong way to view power, but its also not entirely correct either. Whereas people only see darkness in the world, just look at how focused the news is on the bad things in the world for example, but there is usually some silver lining, a shred of light in the darkness which illuminates the proper path to wielding this power. Power may corrupt those who wield it, that is an established fact throughout history, power may cause people to become something other than what they truly intended to be, paving the road to hell with their good intentions, but this isn't the only path that those with power can walk. There are always, ALWAYS those whom have the will, the resolve and the drive to stick to their guns and not let power overcome them, to be the master of their own power and not let it turn them into something they never wanted to be in the first place. There may not be all that many who walk this correct path in the grand scheme of things, but those who do end up going down this do not end up getting remembered as vicious, horrible tyrants who destroyed all they touched. Instead they are remembered fondly throughout history for their virtues, their heroic deeds to the point where humanity carves them into their collective unconsciousness. Such examples of such heroic figures are the Heroic Spirits who are literally transformed into spiritual deities by the legends which they carve.

Right now, two such powerful beings were clashing together, determined to walk their own respective paths. One of them would rise, one of them would fall, but which fate would befall whom, only time could answer that question…

SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH- SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-

SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-!

Two weapons repeatedly collided with one another, slamming into their respective enemies like two tectonic plates savagely grinding away. Their clashes like earthquakes, each one only got sent back slightly by the recoils from each collision, only to come back for more like hungry animals towards a delicious pile of food. One of them kept itself covered in its volatile, devilish and twisted violet purple aura with streaks of lightning, as it clashed with the other weapon which radiated nothing but a majestic feeling of malice. It was a weird feeling, but it also made sense at the same time, since it felt like both of them working in tandem with one another. Both remained locked inside a truly fatal, ominous duel to the death with the intention of coming out on top shining forth from them, this resolve being reflected by their wielders.

With the knowledge that this wouldn't be settled any time soon, both their wielders Noire and Vicious broke away from one another after a moment's decision making through their latest slash fest. The blackette's draconian eyes narrowed deeply as she mentally assessed the power Balmung had been building up, finding the Noble Phantasm having amassed a sizable amount. 'Not enough for me though… I want this to end with that one strike…' she thought, sensing Vicious' spiking Demonic Power and looking over to him to suss out the cause. Turned out that the moment she saw him, she saw how he had held his sword above him and generated a sizable ball of violet purple Demonic Power, one which drew in Lightning bolts from the skies above them which began circling around the spiralling sphere. "That some kind of ninja technique rip off or something?" she questioned heatedly, holding Balmung defensively in one hand whilst also reaching for her hip with the other.

"Hmph, no comment. Now, SIZZLE into a pile of ash!" Vicious responded, pointing his sword forward and launching the Sphere towards her. The moment he did so, the rip-off of a certain signature ninja technique practically shot through the air instantly, kind of like actual teleportation or the Warping thing which Nico did a few times. Nonetheless, Noire didn't let herself get too complacent and instead just summoned Nevular from her Inventory, coating the blade in its signature Lightning whilst launching a large slash wave at it. At the same time, she covered herself in a sphere of the weapon's reservoir of Bats to protect her from the upcoming explosion.

The sphere did not disappoint.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Once the sphere erupted, a wave of violet purple Demonic Energy spread out in all directions, blowing away anything in the air save for the two fighters. Anything weaker than their levels would have been incinerated to nothingness thanks to that attack, something which Noire managed to notice when each and every one of her Bats met that same fate, making her cringe under her breath. 'Not good… Nevular can replenish its bats, but it needs my Demonic Power to do that. I guess I'll have to be more careful…' she thought as she held her blades at the ready.

"You survived, hm…?" Vicious' voice spread through the area, making her look in his direction. If she thought he would have been surprised or shown any kind of emotion at her apparent survival, she would have been sorely mistaken. Good thing she didn't then, as the blackette glared heatedly at him. "Well, lets try test number two…"

"Test…?"

Noire arched a brow at him, but when she sensed a gathering of Demonic Power above her she quickly did so, thus she ended up witnessing the sight… of over 2000 Lightning and Demonic Energy Spheres floating above them like they were angels of death waiting to descend upon the wicked and utterly punish them for their misdeeds. The only thing Noire could say as she quickly summoned the rest of her Bats, each of them crackling with purple Lightning, was what followed: "… Crap."

PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW- PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW- PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW- PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW- PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW- PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW- PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW- PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW- PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW- PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW- PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW- PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW- PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW- PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW- PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW- PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW- PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW- PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW- PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW- PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW- PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW- PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW- PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW- PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW- PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW- PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW- PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW- PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW- PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW- PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW- PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW- PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW- PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW- PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW- PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW- PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW- PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW- PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW- PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW- PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW- PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW- PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW- PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW-!

If there was anything that Noire could fully confirm to herself right now, it would be that she would never look at rain the same way again. She swore she could hear the sounds of church bells ringing in her ears as every section of her life flashed before her eyes as horror sunk its teeth into her. All at once, each and every one of the Spheres came down upon her, descending rapidly and forming into these long streaks, forcing her to command the Bats around her to shoot their Lightning out at each of the Spheres, grouping them up in order to fire more powerful shots. Thing was, she didn't have full confidence in strafing through the gaps between the attacks launched at her both due to her decreased speed, as well as the fact that just ONE of those hits could potentially rip her a new one, as much as she hated to admit that to herself. As such, she mentally commanded her Bats to only shoot at the attacks which would have hit them otherwise, letting the others come down and around her.

'Guh… Ugh…! This guy's freaking INSANE?! Is he trying to destroy this place?!' she shrieked mentally when she noticed Vicious raising his sword again and unleashing a bunch more of those Spheres to launch them at her. Not only that, but there were double the number of Spheres, about 4000, this time, making it even more unlikely that she would be able to move from this barrage. She had practically been pinned down by this attack, only able to defend and unable to counterattack. Looking around her at the Spheres, Noire idly glanced downwards even as some of her bats barely managed to shoot down another Sphere which nearly got too close to be destroyed safely, noticing faint booming sounds down below. 'I can only imagine the chaos down there… What do you think, Siegfried?'

_…__Because this guy is how he is, no, its more to do with DPU Culture in general. For a race like theirs to survive for so long, they have to have an… intimate relationship with destruction itself, amongst the other elements of conflict. As such, they usually have zero problems erasing entire continents or two just over a simple insult… Back in my time, I had heard of such things all too well, even saw a few islands disappear off the face of Gamindustri…_

As she heard that, Noire scowled to herself, fury in her chest at the thought of all the needless collateral damage and all the lives wasted because of these DPUs being such, and she knew she would be swearing more but she didn't care right now, whiny bitches. Thinking about it, she had to think to herself on how utterly different Nico was to the rest of his kind, as well as heave a heavy sigh of relief knowing that he did NOT want to follow in their footsteps. Just imagine if he DID create that amount of destruction, without much of a care about those whose lives were lost… if he were more UNHINGED and not shackled by bonds to those, he considered precious…

She got chills at the thought.

Shaking her head to stop those thoughts for now, Noire looked upwards and saw more Spheres, a good 8000 of them, nearly ready to be launched at her. 'Uh oh, a lot of my Bats have already perished, I won't be able to keep this up much longer!' she thought in realisation when she glanced at her Bats. She'd noticed to her horror that about 60% of them had been annihilated, making her current defences quite weak as a result. She wouldn't be able to take any more hits like this, so a change of strategy would be in order. 'Okay, if that's the case…'

Her head turned to gaze downwards so she could gauge how much power Balmung, which was held in her right hand, had amassed. The Jewel's glow had became significantly intense, something which caused her to nod to herself. 'Power's high enough, though nothing near what a full powered TWILIGHT WAVE would be. It'll have to be enough, then…' she figured, tossing Nevular back into her Inventory after recalling her Bats.

Something which caught Vicious' attention the moment he saw it happen, causing him to wonder what she was planning. "What is this mongrel up to…? She threw away her sole defence against my strikes, and so readily too. Could she finally have seen the difference between us in power? No, that's not it, I sense the will to fight still burning brightly within her. She must be planning something…" whatever the case may be, she would be too late, he had already prepared the final batch of Spheres to launch down at his opponent so whatever she would be traying to do would end up being… 'Hold on, that sword…' just before he could launch them, Vicious finally took full notice of the blade that Noire wielded, the one which glowed brightly with amassed power. 'Is that…?'

"Alright, lets go! Let the Evil Dragon inevitably fall! Let this day give birth to a new Twilight! Balmung, TWILIGHT WAVE!"

FWOOOM!

He didn't finish his thoughts as Vicious noticed the blackette already swinging her Noble Phantasm, releasing an arcing energy wave which swept diagonally upwards towards the falling energy Spheres he instinctively launched after the last word got said. Both attacks fell towards each other, each of them roaring like the beasts which had released them until they clashed. The energy wave slammed into the mass of Spheres since they were all directed towards it, not to mention that it was so large that none of them could get marginally close to Noire who just floated there, Balmung back in her Sword Mistress Stance for any kind of surprise attack defence. At the point of collision, both attacks unleashed this blinding bright light, causing both parties to withdraw from their current stances in order to cover their eyes lest they lose their ability to see, such was the intensity behind the light.

"Aaaaarrrrrrrggggghhhhhh!"

"Ngh…! This light…!"

**(OST End)**

The whole light show went on for what felt like forever, until it finally died down and vanished out of existence, leaving the two fighters floating on opposing sides. Lowering her arms first, Noire glanced over to see the result of her attack, but only scowled in disappointment when she didn't see the sight which she wanted: Vicious diagonally sliced in two. 'Damnit, that was a lot of power I put into that strike! Now there's next to nothing to show for it!' she raged mentally, furious that her attack had been thwarted. Really, it felt like a massive waste, the entirety of this battle till this point focused on amassing power for Balmung's attack, only for it to not even HIT its intended target! What kind of bullcrap was that anyhow?

"…Mongrel."

"?!"

Whilst she kept ranting off inside her mind about the utter BS which had happened before, her eyes widened when Vicious' voice cut through her thoughts and forced her to look back at him. Now, what had surprised her wasn't that he once again insulted her, she had some form of tolerance to that already, no what surprised her was something else about his tone entirely. His voice just now, it carried no hint of the arrogance, mocking condescendence and outright nihilism that it had before, instead there was a mostly blank tone with hints of curiosity and surprise underneath. It felt like what he had been like before ad been put aside for now, like something interesting about her had been presented to him. As such, Noire kept herself on the defensive, waiting for what might happen next…

"What is your relation to the one named Siegfried?"

… Okay, out of everything she had guessed in those several long seconds, Noire did NOT expect that to be one of them. His question actually succeeded in making her flinch, something he noticed but didn't comment on. Just, how did this guy know her Heroic Spirit? That was a question which popped into her mind thanks to his own, prompting her to try and gather what information she knew to guess his motives. She DID know of Siegfried existing in the DPU Era, he had told her this not long ago, not to mention she also knew of him managing to protect his Kingdom back then against many an enemy, including Demons. So, that stood to reason for her to assume that he perhaps had been a well-known human figure at the time, if him becoming a Heroic Spirit was any indication. But, how did Vicious know him? For a moment, Noire drew a blank, until something clicked in her mind as a potential theory popped into her noggin. "… You and him, you both knew each other back then… you two must have fought…"

"Indeed, now answer the question." Vicious demanded, his voice gaining a slightly edgier tone to it, his previous demeanour slowly starting to slip back into its original place. "Someone as weak as yourself does not deserve to wield his sword. He was a human whom commanded the begrudging respect of many Demons, defeated only through betrayal." He stated further, not even bothering to sound low and menacing with pauses between his words. Not only that, but there was utter revulsion, disgust and more than a little murderous intent beginning to roll off his body in waves, manifesting through his aura. It felt like this was closer to the real him, though Noire couldn't confirm that.

After glaring at him for a moment, to which he gripped his Sword's hilt and began to channel power into it, Noire decided to finally answer him. "I'll let that comment about me being weak slide for now but suffice it to say he's my partner and mentor. There, you happy now?" she finally retorted, having started gathering more of the blade's power into its Jewel for another TWILIGHT WAVE. It still won't have reached its full power for a while, but it would be better than nothing.

If Vicious noticed this, he didn't show any signs of it. Rather, he kept his narrowed eyed gaze at her. If anything, actually, it only looked worse the more seconds passed. "… Partner, huh…?" he muttered, simply standing there for a short moment. She would have tried to slash at him if she weren't amassing Balmung's energy for another TWILIGHT WAVE, and as such she didn't engage him in that moment. Afterwards, the man lowered his shoulders as a sigh of disappointment escaped his lips. "That's even worse… for someone like him to choose a worthless mongrel like you as a partner… I don't know whether to be amused at such a pathetic notion or be dubious about how far this world has fallen." He stated with a hand over his face, like he couldn't stand to even look at her at this point… well, she wouldn't be wrong in thinking that, though.

Still, hearing such words said to her face absolutely pissed her off as her aura erupted like a furnace being lit. Following a surge of air which got blown in Vicious' direction, the man looked back at her in mild surprise and intrigue as Noire stepped forwards. "You… You…!" she began, her tone low, dark and yet carried an intensity which could REALLY force anyone hearing it to shut up. Her eyes looked like they could combust at any second, bearing into the DPU's own with a fierceness to them that no mortal could match. "I can tolerate your insults at me… but if you insult my MENTOR… that's crossing the line!" Noire felt LIVID with her fury-filled words being launched at her opponent, and rightly so.

Siegfried may not have been with her for long compared to someone like Neptune, heck that could be considered an understatement, as she and her had known each other for centuries. However, anyone who was willing to take her under their wing, teach them in the ways of the sword to improve her combat abilities, provide helpful advice and life experience when she asked, would surely earn her respect. She had nothing but that for the former King, alongside being able to relate to the guy since both of them would do anything to help their people. She may question some of his decisions, the choices he'd made in life and afterwards, but in the end, she felt it a FACT that she considered him to be one of the few people she could wholeheartedly trust. So, for someone to insult someone like that, to utterly demean and ridicule them so blatantly and even in front of her no less…

Yeah, she might pull a Lowee CPU at any moment.

* * *

Within the Dreamworld, Siegfried's eyes widened when he felt the sensations coursing through Noire via their link. 'Ngh…! Noire…' the man thought, utterly gobsmacked to the point where he unashamedly showed it on his features. He had simply been lounging in his Castle home, to be more specific the Throne Room, watching things from there when this happened. As such, he took more than a FEW double takes, the unexpected feelings completely throwing him off.

This wasn't something he had expected to happen, well to be more precise he didn't expect it to occur with THIS level of intensity. He had done a lot of research on Noire before contacting her, coming up with an in-depth analysis of her to judge whether or not she would have been worthy to wield his Sword, his most prized possession, his Noble Phantasm. As such, he had already been made aware of how Noire wasn't the type of person to openly express her feelings, something which named her as a 'tsundere' according to the current era. She was someone who hid herself behind a mask of a haughty noblewoman whilst outwardly projecting a disdainful and prideful attitude towards those that she disliked, or thought were incompetent. He had seen this, yet there had been enough redeeming qualities about her that made her worthy to wield his Noble Phantasm. For example, her fierce devotion to her people which stemmed from an honest, pure desire to redeem herself for her past mistakes, to correct them and provide a better future for her people. It was one of her core traits, something which defined her as a person, as well as a Goddess which had earned her a chance with the people within her Nation.

In essence, it would be a rare, as in REALLY rare, occurrence where she would openly express her feelings with a passion which rivalled her work ethic. Something which he had noticed happened more when she entered her Devil Trigger State, comparing it to Alcohol where it removed some of her self-imposed inhibitions about her feelings. For her, this was considered the HARDEST thing for her to do, her greatest flaw and her greatest hurdle, something which the Heroic Spirit felt stemmed from her past as someone who always fought with little social interactions. As a result, whenever she DID manage to get her feelings out properly without becoming a stammering mess and trying to force others into secrecy about them, Siegfried would always remember those moments. So, to see her get this furious for his sake, something which only a few people had done for him when he had been alive, it not only touched him, it also made him smile in happiness.

'You've… definitely come a long way, haven't you Noire…?' The man thought with a content smile.

Whilst thinking this, he then noticed something beginning to change, something regarding the Bottlenecks he had imposed on Balmung as a way to restrain its full power. The last bottleneck, one which Siegfried worried about more so than the first, felt like it would be breaking down and shattering into nothingness momentarily. When Siegfried expanded his senses to try and feel out why this was the case, to his surprise it turned out to be something which he SHOULD have anticipated but hadn't at the same time. Though in his defence, he had been focusing on matters revolving around Balmung's newest wielder as well as kept an eye on her Appetite Demon just in case it tried anything. Not that it ever had, but he wouldn't let anything happen to his partner and student. 'Alright Noire, the final stretch is here… the biggest one of all. Hope you can make it through this…'

* * *

Back outside…

'Hmmm… I see…' Vicious thought to himself as he stared at the fuming Noire with his DPU eyes shifting back from his momentary surprise to a look of casual indifference. The influence of his transformation kept him focused on the battlefield, anything not useful to fighting being discarded as an unnecessary influence. He eyed her form up and down, like Siegfried it hadn't taken him long to notice the changes starting to take place within the blackette, although he didn't say anything either. "Hmph. Empty words…" he began as his sword lit up in twisted black and purple Lightning, becoming a larger form of itself which easily dwarfed its default size, before he pointed it at Noire's torso with his eyes narrowing into slits. "Unless you can back them up, worthless mongrel, perhaps THEN will I become a little more motivated."

**(Play Yakuza 0 OST – Pledge of Demon)**

"Don't worry, I plan on it!" Noire yelled back, summoning her Samsara Arms from her shoulders. Upon their emergence, she then summoned her Dragon Fault from her Inventory and had them grasp onto its hilt, moving her wings slightly to allow them better mobility. She then blasted forwards at high speeds, prompting Vicious to do the same as the two resulted in colliding with each other's swords, her Dragon Fault against his DPU one. Each clash rung out through their surroundings, and if there were any ground beneath them in place of that abyss, then there would have been fissures created by the shockwaves of their swings.

CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG- CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG!

Their weapons constantly rung whilst they repeatedly met one another, Noire keeping Balmung out of there until it would eventually reach full power whilst Vicious kept launching energy attacks at her one after another. In terms of sheer speed, she had already predicted that the guy surpassed her unless she entered her HDD Form, something which had been proven thanks to this fight. Using Dragon Fault to block an overhead slash and two horizontal ones from opposite angles, Noire thrusted forwards with the blade towards the man's right shoulder, said man managing to bring his sword back in time to block it. This would have sent him sliding back, had his wings not worked against the laws of physics and kept him in his position. He then aimed a scissor kick her way, but Noire pivoted around it to the left, rearing Dragon Fault to swing like a golf club into his chest… only for Vicious to flip backwards at the PERFECT moment to keep himself safe from the blade, all the while kicking her in the jaw to knock her back.

Hopping upwards, Noire twisted into a horizontal slash towards the middle of Vicious' head, intending to slice him clean through. He ducked under the swing, raising a leg afterwards and kicking at the Heavy Sword when it came back for another low sweeping swing. With that done, Vicious twirled himself around and sausage flipped into a reverse diagonal swing, aiming to carve Noire up like a butcher with his meat, something which Noire managed to dodge a second before it could happen. She had hopped backwards to dodge the attack, then leapt forwards afterwards, keeping Dragon Fault attacking her opponent from different angles to keep him occupied for Balmung's charging time duration.

'Come on, Balmung! Charge faster!' The blackette thought to herself, doing her best to mask her inner anxieties which built upon themselves like building blocks within her stomach. All the while, her Samsara Arms moved like blurs in front of her, her Wings protruding backwards to help give them more room to attack her opponent. It maybe just her impatience kicking in, but in her eyes Balmung felt like it was taking its sweet ass time to fully charge up power for the TWILIGHT WAVE. Though, she guessed it would make sense since the degree of opponent she had gone up against trumped ANYTHING this entire incident had shown us so far. 'Whilst you're taking your sweet as time to charge, I'm literally hanging on here by the skin of my teeth, every strike against this guy makes me feel like my Dragonblood Form's about to vanish on me at any second, any one strike would be enough to bring it down!'

Still, despite her growing anxieties, Noire remained steadfast in her belief that she would be able to keep Vicious occupied for the moment she could unleash her Noble Phantasm's power through Galvanism. She had to, if she wanted to keep her spirits up since she remained all too aware of the level of danger this foe presented her Nation, she just HAD to keep her cool, dodge his many attacks sword or otherwise, all the while keeping him in place for Balmung to be used to strike the finishing blow. The Noble Phantasm, currently, held 1st place in the strongest weapon department if one were to look at her power set, in addition to that thee wouldn't be enough power within the sword to fire it off more than this, especially with how drained she had become thanks to all this consecutive fighting. So, this next attack would have to land on the target, it simply HAD to, Noire absolutely refused to have anything less than the perfect outcome for her. It simply had to be the best, as like her Nation's motto said: Lastation could only do everything.

Yes, it would work…

It would work…

The strategy would WORK!

"… You think it will be that easy, mongrel?"

"?!"

Suddenly, Vicious' eyes flashed dangerously, Noire gasping when she felt a sharp snap kick land itself into her solar plexus. This succeeded not only in her halting her attacks y bending forwards with the urge to vomit filling her being, but also to give him enough time to get some distance between them. He appeared a couple hundred feet away from her, his Sword already pulsating with power like a living heart whilst he prepared to fire a large energy attack at her. The sword's aura flared wildly, before with a FWOOM sound it suddenly shot itself upwards, forming a massive pillar of energy which constantly sent wild, lightning-like sparks into their surroundings. Up above, violent Lightning Bolts shot down around him, almost as if announcing him as the one who commanded every aspect of Lightning itself, as if he were the lightning king in all his glory. Meanwhile, the DPU kept his gaze upon the slightly staggered Noire, his eyes pooled with disgust and mockery towards her as sparks of Lightning shot forth from them into their surroundings. "Now… die, weakling!"

To that end, Vicious shot forth with a thrust, covering his body in Lightning and instantly closed the distance between them. 'Shoot, if that hits me I'm gonna be toast!' Noire's eyes widened as this happened, and in exactly 0.2 seconds she managed to shift her Samsara Arms in front of her to block her centre where the blade had been target towards. Just as the blade made to touch the back of those massive hands with its tip, Vicious's form flickered out of existing, re-emerging behind her with his sword raised to be brought down upon the blackette. Reflexes kicked in as Noire, in a fit of desperation since she had no time to dodge this attack, twisted around and reverse swung Balmung upwards, the erratically sparking blade quickly colliding with Vicious' DPU Sword.

At the moment of collision

SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

A screech resonated from the two blades as they struggled to overpower one another, their respective energy attacks being unleashed from within their physical coils onto their opponents in an effort to eradicate them from existence. Energy bolts constantly flew from their struggling and violently shaking forms, creating two large forces shaped like the tips of arrows which tried to overpower one another. Streaks broke free from them and targeted their surroundings, creating many large explosions, fissure, canyons etc by incinerating any organic and inorganic matte unlucky enough to come into contact with them. They flew faster than bullets themselves, ripping through the air and generating dangerous gale force winds which felt like they could cut through flesh and armour like swiss cheese. Turned out, that description proved to be a disturbingly accurate one when, whilst lounging about enjoying the bliss of being lazy, a single Demon covered head to toe in Armour with powers capable of rivalling Greater Demons got incinerated down to its very Soul, leaving not even an atom behind. Similar fates befell all kinds of different Demons across the Demon World, some being weak and the others not so much, though the Demon Prince overseeing this world didn't do anything to intervene for whatever reason.

However, as the two forces struggled valiantly against their opposing enemy's, gradually a winner started to become clear when the Lightning attack from Vicious slowly began to overpower Noire's Noble Phantasm, causing her to grit her teeth in annoyance and frustration, not bothering to give the building fear in her gut any attention. 'Not good! Balmung's power isn't enough to take this attack out, I couldn't charge it up in time! If it goes on like this…! Well then, then I have only one other option available to me right now!' she thought to herself as the attack gradually got closer and closer to her even as she tried to pump more power out from Balmung. The sword-shaped Noble Phantasm glowed even brighter as if to reflect the resolve which flowed through its wielder, Siegfried remaining silent as he observed this… as well as the last bottleneck breaking down.

On his end of things, Vicious slowly curved his lips upwards, a satisfied, smug and downright cocky smirk soon forming as he saw his attack starting to win against his prey. It would have happened anyways, it was an inevitable event since this mongrel who dared call herself a Goddess proved herself inferior to him in every way. She could never HOPE to wield the power she now held in her hands, not with how pathetic she truly was. A damn child was what he saw in front of him, a child who kept doing her best to please everyone around her, with no exception for some stupid reason like governing the human race. What a pathetic farce, if one asked him. Deities were meant to be cold, uncaring and unfeeling beings. They did whatever they pleased, whenever they felt like it, with nothing being able to stand in their ways. This before him was no such deity, and he had seen TRUE deities over his many thousands of years worth of combat experience. This worthless stain upon existence didn't deserve to even COME CLOSE to their levels of skill, what she had shown throughout this journey only proved that to him. Once he ended her, he'd let the Demons of Slaanesh have her little planet, that waste of rock had no importance to him. Unless there would be absurdly powerful beings assembling here, something he'd heard rumours throughout the galaxy before coming her, maybe THEN would he show some level of minor intrigue. But until then, he'd settle for ending this worthless, disappointing excuse for entertainment.

Just as he prepared to make for the final push which would shatter those boring-looking arms of hers, then into her mid section to cut her horizontally in half...

"Hah, got you!"

FLASH!

"?!"

Noire suddenly shouted out as she vanished in a flash, catching Vicious off guard as his DPU eyes shrunk to the size of dots. His thrusting strike ended up hitting nothing but air, the energy inside of it shooting out in a forward yet diagonal motion into the depths of the abyss below. 'Wha?!' the DPU thought, unable to process what he had just seen until he remembered something about the blackette. Something which he cursed himself for forgetting as he twisted around towards where he could sense her energy. 'That's right, she still has the ability to manipulate her senses similar to time stopping...! She must have been holding back this whole time, waiting for the opportune moment where I would let my guard down...!' he thought, his frenzied gaze landing upon the blackette whose Samsara Arms and Dragon Fault had vanished... leaving behind only a still glowing Balmung, only its glow seemed marginably weaker than it had been prior to their clash. 'Conserving her Sword's energy output, limiting it so she could fire a second shot quicker...?!'

"Here, have a taste of BALMUNG!"

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

**(OST End)**

At once, the shimmering blade fell upon Vicious form, his eyes shaking wildly as he reflexively tried to do something about it. Whether or not he succeeded in defending himself with whatever tactic he had come up with, Noire couldn't say for certain, mostly since she hadn't seen anything due to the bright light Balmung's attack released upon impact. She had aimed at what remained of the mouth she and Vicious had fought in initially, since that place was pretty much the only thing left undamaged as far as her eyes could see. Well, undamaged wasn't quite right since all that remained of it was a badly damaged lower jaw, the river which fell into the abyss, and that was it. No pillars, no bones, nothing but that small spec of land. Part of her believed that the strike would have destroyed the rest of it since Balmung was a powerful Anti-Army Noble Phantasm, albeit weakened through uncontrollable circumstances, but upon feeling out her surroundings with her senses, Noire quickly doused such notions from within her mind, her lips curving downwards into an irritated scowl.

'I can still sense his Demonic Power... Vicious must have done something to block my attack at the last second, otherwise he would have been disintegrated by that strike...' she thought as she looked towards the place she had knocked him down into. Her Wings flapped on occasion, keeping her suspended in the air as she slowly strafed downwards towards his position. She didn't think he would be launching any more of those attacks he had been doing since the battle in the air began, not with how much power she could sense remained in him still. It was one of the few things which helped her calm her anger, knowing that whilst Vicious had survived like the dirty cockroach he was, he hadn't done so without cost, so it would be slightly easier to finish him off. 'Well, I'm glad I managed to pull this off whilst my Dragonblood Form's limits weren't reached, otherwise I'd have been a goner...'

_…It was a split-second too close, Noire. Those attacks may as well have added up to multiple Anti-Army Noble Phantasms in terms of power concentration, something you have yet to experience yourself and thus do not have a lot of endurance against. Your Dragonblood Form may be powerful, but this fight is probably the most damage it has taken thus far. If you had taken just a little bit longer, then the form would not have been able to withstand the strain placed on you by those two attacks, and you would have plummeted into that abyss below us. You were lucky, it seems that Vicious' power as a DPU being limited as it was helped you survive in this fight..._

… Yeah, she understood that part, having pieced together the puzzle in her mind. Throughout the fight, Noire had been trying to piece together the puzzle which was named Vicious, what his motives were, why he did these things to her people. It didn't feel like he had any malicious intent towards Lastation, not directly at least, it felt more like he had a... personal stake in all of this. What, she didn't know, but what she DID know for certain was that she had luck on her side. She may have had some things working against her this entire fight, but Vicious wasn't without some of his own too. The fact that he couldn't tap into his full power as a DPU told her much about this battle, how much luck played a factor in this. If he had ALL his powers, plus the ones which racially belonged to DPUs alone, then Noire didn't have complete confidence that she would have been able to emerge victorious against him. She wasn't strong enough for that to be a thing she could do with ease, just yet, there was still MUCH for her to learn and grow in the future.

For now however, Noire needed to get this over with already, as she slowly descended down to where Vicious lay. The battle seemed to be just about over now...

* * *

By the time she reached the tip of the river, landing with her feet plunging into the wine-like liquid and splitting it apart, Noire looked around as her wings furled inwards, a sense of fatigue suddenly falling onto her shoulders from them. 'Whew... flying for so long in this form feels exhausting...' she thought to herself, referring to how throughout the battle in her Dragonblood Form her Wings had the exercise of a lifetime in keeping her in the air. She began to feel like she could understand resting birds a bit better now, her Wings were currently KILLING her with their aches. It didn't take her long to push those thoughts aside though and focus on what really mattered in her current situation, as Noire's draconian gaze fell upon the wounded-looking man who crouched on one leg opposite her as the smoke around them vanished with just a single swing of their blades. Although his looked more haggard and weakened compared to hers... even if hers wasn't all that much better.

"Am I... being defeated...?"

On his end, Vicious looked down at the wine river with an expression of pure disbelief, his mind unable to comprehend what had just happened. One second he had been at the height of his victory against an opponent he deemed inferior to himself, but then again all DPUs did that to their enemies even each other, so it wasn't really anything new. Then, the next thing he knew he had been sent slamming back down here, his DPU Form having vanished to leave him back in his frail human one due to insufficient Demonic Power to maintain it. As such, his body looked like it had been grated on a grater by a chef prepping meals at a restaurant, with bloody wounds littering his body like a junkyard and his blood dripping into the river, mixing in with it and staining it even redder than before. His hair looked horribly dishevelled, whilst trails of blood ran down his face, one of his eyes having been shut to conceal it and protect it from the blood right now, the other remaining wide open in absolute bafflement. He just didn't get it, how the heck did that happen? Where did he go wrong? As a DPU with countless battles under his belt, this should have been NOTHING to him, not even worthy of his attention let alone unleashing his true form.

So how...?

HOW CAN THIS WORTHLESS WENCH BE GETTING THE UPPER HAND AGAINST HIM?!

Noire could just feel the conflicting the emotions from where she stood, resulting in her shaking her head at the guy's idiocy. What, he expected her to still lose to him after all this? Seriously, the guy needed to get his head examined if that were true. Still, perhaps a bit of gloating would be appropriate here, since she DID owe him for mocking and insulting her during their whole battle. "Come on, stand up! I know you got more than that, or are you so limp like your manhood that all this is enough to make you fall down?" she mocked, a smug as hell smirk plastered on her features as she held Balmung in one hand diagonally and parallel to her side. Although the blade's power had been significantly reduced thanks to consecutive use, it still held a noble, kingly aura with the air of a weapon used to protect the lives of many, a complete contrast to Vicious' DPU nature of destruction.

Hearing her words caused some sort of switched to flip inside Vicious' head, causing him to growl as his Demonic Power, although weakened, began to surge out of him in a wild manner similar to a cornered animal determined to fight its way out of a perilous situation. Slowly, he rose to a standing position, spreading his legs apart whilst bending them for support, with his form slouching slightly by the end of it and the sword Arkham used in his hand. His eyes glowed with Demonic Power as he glared hatefully at her, snarling in a wild manner. "Shut your mouth, hoe!" he yelled at the end, pointing his sword at her. "A worthless bitch like yourself is not suited to clash with someone like me! Your nothing, you hear me?! NOTHING!"

"Well then Mr I-am-better-than-though, I guess NOTHING just managed to kick your ass to the curb. Funny how that works, doesn't it?" Noire replied back with a slightly sassy smirk on her lips. What she got in the end was an even more murderous glare from her opponent, however she didn't put much thought into that and instead eyed him, deciding to question him on something before she would finish him off. "Oh yeah, by the way, what's your deal with all this? Why go so far to get only this kind of power when you CLEARLY have little need of it." she questioned, though it wasn't really out of curiosity. She just wanted to confirm her own theory about his motives, nothing more and nothing less... why did she get the feeling Neptune would start calling her a tsundere right about now?

That aside, Vicious momentarily tensed up as he heard her words, his eyes widening slightly in surprise. At first, he felt like shouting at her some more, seeing as a wench like her didn't deserve to know anything about him. However, considering that this battle would be ending soon in his victory, he decided to humour her for once. So, with a chuckle seemingly fit for an arrogant king rather than a warrior (one which Noire twitched her brow at), he answered her. "Getting a little too demanding, aren't you slut? Very well then, I'll humour you since you've been a good form of entertainment for me." he said, smirking angrily at her which she returned with multiple veins popping across her forehead. "In summary, you could say I came here to retrieve what belongs to me, everything about this power in this sword, its all meant to be mine from the very beginning."

"The let me say a little theory of mine then, one little sore loser in front of me." Noire began right afterwards, getting a furious glare from Vicious for her troubles, though she basked in his rage like a certain troll of a CPU she knew. "I'm guessing that you, at some point in time, fought the DPU who owned the Tower back in Gamindustri, whatever reasons behind it I'm not sure on. You lost, and he used some sort of attack, probably that Soul Slasher strike, to separate a portion of your powers and sealed them within this Demon World, one which can only be accessed THROUGH this Tower. You searched endlessly for it to get your power back, only to discover that the DPU Hojo had sealed this Tower away and fled like a whiny little bitch into it, so you spent your time studying it, learning how to unseal it after locating the damn thing. That sword: the seal containing your powers, these Amulets: the keys to break it. obtaining ownership of the Temen-Ni-Gru: trivial in comparison. Am I close?" she questioned at the end, though if one looked into her eyes they'd see how she felt like she had pretty much summed up everything important already. It had been something she'd formed in her head through some theorizing and educated guesses using the information she had heard from several parties: Vicious himself, as well as Siegfried. So, she felt pretty confident of her chances here.

As she finished her theory, Vicious gaze stared at her for a short time, his anger persisting like an annoying plague although it had lessened somewhat when she explained everything. In the end, the man hummed thoughtfully as an amused smirk slowly spread across his lips. "Hmph, so the slut is just a bit more knowledgeable then the norm, hmm?" he remarked, thoughtfully, before shaking his head. "Well, since you entertained me so well, I suppose I can confirm that theory of yours. Indeed, you have most of it summarized already. Hojo and I were vicious rivals, I had heard that he had been amassing power for a while back in the DPU Era, so I went to fight him and take that power for my own, only to lose and end up losing a majority of my powers in the process." he stated, and now that she thought about it Noire realized that this was the longest conversation she ever had with the DPU. The guy was a dick, to be sure and she got the feeling that the majority of DPUs shared this trait, but she could definitely feel empathy towards this one especially with the whole avenging his humiliating defeat thing. She too wanted to avenge her humiliation back at Halo Mountain, and in that sense the two were alike, no matter how much it disgusted her inside. The only difference between them would be their methods of approaching this vengeance, something the two clearly understood by locking their gazes.

At this point, the two felt their ears twitch when the sounds of massive tremors began to fill the air, almost catching them off balance. Noire managed to use her sword to balance herself though, whilst Vicious simply widened his stance whilst looking upwards. His eyes narrowed as a knowing glint flashed through them, until he then looked back towards her. "Enough talk, lets finish this. The portal back to your world will be closing soon, due to the Amulets being separated for so long, so your time is short, mongrel." he stated, holding the sword at the ready. His eyes shone with killing intent, something which Noire mirrored as she got into her Sword Mistress Stance, unfurling her wings to launch herself forwards at even the slightest sign of movement from her opponent. He did have ONE thing correct about this situation, time indeed WAS short and not just for the whole portal fiasco. Her nation would be reduced to chaos if it wakes up and she's not there to mitigate the confusion, so she had to end this in the next attack. Although Balmung's power wasn't in top form, she would take what she had.

'Wait, doesn't Nevular control Lightning? And Balmung's Galvanism Trait allows unrestricted conversion and accumulation of magical energy and any form of electricity, right? Well, then...'

Mentally nodding to herself, Noire would have cursed herself for forgetting about Nevular's power over Lightning, but things were a little bit tight at the moment so she couldn't. Plus, why not rectify that mistake right now? To that end, Noire summoned Nevular from her Inventory, holding the blade in her other hand and letting its power flow through her, allowing Balmung to charge up from it. She held both blades diagonally in front of her, forming a V shape if one looked at her from a bird's eye view. Her Tail swayed too and fro behind her, calmly yet its sensual movements betrayed an underlying caution, a readiness to react immediately upon given an incentive to do so. All the while, Vicious did the same thing, the two staring each other down for a short, but intense moment...

Before both sprung towards one another like two uncoiling springs.

"HAAAA!"

"GUOOOOO!"

In an instant the two had closed in on one another, Vicious going for a diagonal slash whilst Noire went for a cross slash towards his stomach. It all came down to whoever managed to surpass the other in speed, as whilst both of them weren't exactly at 100%, both of them still had enough strength left in them to continue. Not to mention their strikes remained flawlessly executed, as if they each REFUSED to let their injuries impact their swordplay. Instead, both fighters got within striking distance, with Vicious swinging his blade diagonally towards Noire's heart area with the intent on utterly ripping it in two. Meanwhile, Noire herself had crossed her swords in front of her, poised to make a reverse slash at his abdomen.

So who managed to make the cur...?

SLASH-SLASH!

… Well, come on its obvious by this point.

Vicious gasped when he felt the blades belonging to his adversary tear through his flesh like a hot knife through butter, Noire stopping behind him after avoiding his own slash against her. The blackette had managed to surpass the man in speed, slicing through his abdomen like she had intended but couldn't quite sever him in half thanks to the man using what little of his power left to enhance the area she had been slashing at, resulting in two bloody wounds over his stomach instead. Despite this however, Vicious groaned as weakness and fatigue assaulted his senses, making him drop the sword and his Amulet down towards the river. the sword impaled it like a certain kingship granting sword in the stone whilst the amulet's chain hooked itself onto the base of its hilt. Stumbling forwards, Vicious quickly glanced to the sword and reached out to take it, only for Noire's Samsara Arms to smack him before he could do so, launching him all the way to river's edge.

'Phew...' the blackette thought as she breathed heavily, her hair shadowing her eyes as her tension rapidly left her body. 'That was close, for a moment there I thought his bade would have reached me first before I could make my own move. Luckily I was able to surpass him for a single moment, otherwise things would have turned ugly...' Noire huffed and puffed as she soon began to rise to her feet, not letting her body rest for now. She still had something left to do as of this moment, something which could not be put off any longer.

After standing tall, Noire turned around and glared at the man, stepping forth and grasping onto the sword instead, yanking it out of the ground as well as the Amulet alongside it. "Sorry, but I'll be taking this. Think of it as a little contribution to protecting Lastation for your actions against it." she stated, scowling as she deposited them inside her Inventory. Thinking about a DPU like Vicious running around at full power did not sit well with her, not to mention that just by seeing him here made her believe that there could be even more of his kind to show up in the future, so she wanted something she could use to help her in her inevitable fight against them. Part of her DID feel like that was a little but too mean to the guy, but she quashed it by reasoning how he had placed her entire Nation in danger, repeatedly demeaned her as well as helped a damn sociopath whom had been a long-time Lastation criminal. Holding her two blades in her Samsara Arms now, she crossed her arms under her chest whilst her Tail circled around her back and pointed towards her opponent from above her right shoulder. "What, you think I'm just going to let you go so easily...?"

"You bitch..." Vicious snarled as he stumbled back onto his feet, his body trembling from the damage he had been dealt by the blackette. He held his abdomen in one hand like he were suggesting to get something for him to eat, though the absolutely maniacal expression on his face suggested otherwise. His Demonic Power, utterly exhausted, felt more like a weakened ember at this point rather than anything threatening, so she didn't feel too nervous about it anymore. £You think you've won... just because of a mere FLESH WOUND?!" He yelled out, only to cough up blood right afterwards. The man was practically on his last legs anyways, so as she started approaching him, she placed Nevular back into her Inventory and kept out Balmung. The sword which chose a King upon grasping it would be the one who claimed victory this day, just like it had done with the Dragon which it killed for its legend.

Seeing him like this brought a victorious smirk onto Noire's face. "Yeah, I kinda do." she replied, feeling WAY to happy at seeing this guy at the edge of his rope after everything he had put her through. She would have gloated further, had it not been for her senses informing of her of the quickly de-stabilizing portal, bringing her attention back to the important matters at hand. "Alright then, since I'm on a tight schedule, I'll end this quickly. Better than what you'd deserve, anyways." she stated, before raising her sword for the final blow. Her eyes remained with their stone cold expressions as she brought it down, launching a gust of wind from the swing itself which sent Vicious flying over the edge as much as he tried to resist, his weakened body combined with the force of her swing resulting in his failure.

"D-D-DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN YOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!"

As he fell into the abyss down below, his form practically vanishing from sight, Noire allowed her shoulders to drop, knowing now that she had done her task: she had won against a DPU. 'The author feels like he's rushed this scene, and its referenced one goes WAY differently, but since this story's nearing its end its best to just get it over with... Though if I had my way I'd make him treat EVERY aspect with the respect of a professional document.' Noire thought to herself in a moment of fourth wall breaking which would have earned approval points from everyone's lovable pudding addict. Shaking her head, the blackette turned away and left the scene, intending to return to her home in Gamindustri with a spring in her step similar to an excited schoolgirl...

Though considering the night she'd had, it'd definitely be understandable.


	38. Chapter 38 - What happens next

**Chapter 38 - What happens next**

"Hm-hm, hm-hm, hm-hmmmm, hm-hm, hm-hm, hm-hmmmm, hm-hm, hm-hm, hm-hmmmm…"

Humming a merry tune to herself, something she had been doing for a while now, Noire herself sighed once again in relaxation, her eyes shining and sparkling with joy she hadn't been experiencing for quite a while now. Her right hand scribbled down her signature on those documents she approved on, whilst occasionally it switched over for a stamp located next to her on her desk which she would plant the word 'DENIED' in big, bold black ink on documents she didn't feel benefited Lastation any. The heavy sound of her slamming it onto the paper which lay on her Desk filled her ears time and time again, to the point where she even anticipated it before it ever happened. Ironically enough, a lot of those turned out to be Avenir-favoured ones, some of them much more subtle than the others which had required her to read them thoroughly and to read between their lines figure them out. The work itself was pretty demanding, as would any kind of leadership job where the lives of thousands upon thousands of citizens depended on where she wanted to take the Nation in the future. But If she were honest right now, after everything which had happened back then, she could not have been any happier to finally get back into the swing of things, plus it helped that through the efforts of the Spell back then things… well, they weren't as rocky as Noire had feared.

Let's take a few steps back, shall we? Just so you readers can get a clear glimpse of what the scope and context surrounding her was in current times.

About a week had passed since the incident with the Temen-Ni-Gru, and thanks to her along with Lid, things had been settled down quite quickly with few changes. Well, one of those changes turned out to be a BIG one, and that turned out to be the Tower itself. If she were to describe it, Noire would say that it took the purpose as a second home to her other than the Basilicom, especially since the whole place had been rather close to said building in the first place. It wasn't something which remained on the downlow however, in fact it could be said that it came to light almost INSTANTLY. The Tower's emergence had sent everyone who'd seen it into a chaotic frenzy, confusion and fear running rampant as everyone had wondered why the hell there was a giant spiralling Tower in the midst of Lastation's Capital? It hadn't been there before, and the mere sight of it gave off this foreboding ominous feeling to them. This, combined with the shock and fear, caused the population to speculate with wild rumours, ones which had escalated quickly, getting out of hand faster than lightning. Some even tried to throw stuff at it and desecrate the Tower, although under their CPU's orders the local garrison had to put a stop to those attempts quickly, claiming it as an official residence for important military and government purposes.

'Thinking back on it…' the blackette thought whilst her writing pen froze in the air during her signing of a document. Noire then leaned back on her chair as she recalled the incident clearly in her mind. 'Perhaps it could have been better to slowly ease the people into their new situation, although then again that would have been easier said than done since each of them woke up around the same time as one another…' she thought further, letting a tired sigh escape as she rubbed her forehead with her index finger and thumb. 'Thank the Goddess that I had been ready back then, if I hadn't, I'd likely have been bombarded with one problem after another…'

Fortunately, though, things hadn't gone down any terrible routes like in dating sims. Noire and Lid had, through no small amount of effort and a little bit of luck, managed to calm everyone down to prevent divine intervention, the former dealing with the officials throughout the Capital whilst the latter assured the worries of the military side of things were meaningless. They had reasoned that the Tower itself was harmless and that people wouldn't have to worry about it causing any trouble, Noire even suggested that it could be used as a tourist attraction to gain better support and economics with the other Nations who wanted to see it, whilst Lid suggested that the Tower be a good reason for the Capital to clean up the section around it for once instead of focusing solely on the Abnormals. Things hadn't changed too much on that section for now, but the talks about it had been circulating throughout the officials, so it constantly remained on their minds. That to Noire felt like a good thing, since it meant nobody would be forgetting about it any time soon. Oh yeah, by this point Noire and Lid had practically become almost like siblings with all the hell they had gone through together, fighting Greater Demons and countless Demonic hordes whilst only relying on one another could do that to people. Enough that, in her eyes, Lid now saw Noire as a truly worthy leader for the Land of Black Regality, enough for her to try and get over the doubts she had about her born from her past mistakes. Noire had been struggling to fix things for so long, so why not make it easier for her? Well, that had been her thought process, and due to that Lid had begun taking on the really crucial missions throughout the Continent, dispatching Abnormals at a rapid pace as if she were a pseudo CPU herself. May as well have been considering how she had used this as an excuse to train in her two Noble Phantasms. She never did tell Noire what the second one was like, though…

Although, what the two DIDN'T tell anyone (this being classified as a top secret by the CPU) was that thanks to Noire having gained the two Amulets (which she had stored away in a classified section of the Tower itself for safe keeping), she now had been designated by the Tower itself as its sole mistress. She now had full control over its faculties, like the trials, the Arrays, even some features that she hadn't seen before like a self-repairing and cleaning mechanism, making the entire structure look good as when it had been first built over 30 trillion years ago. Not only did it now serve as a residential area for herself (she wasn't too keen on letting others inside it so she only let herself and Lid be residents for now), but it also served as a Storage facility as she had placed the books she had gotten there (along with anything else related to the forces of Chaos like artefacts, books, weapons, armour etc) inside of its Divine Library which had WAY more space than Noire had initially realized. Of course, the weapons and anything dangerous were kept separate from the books, since the Tower had plenty of other storage areas with some even guarded by transportation Arrays which Noire herself had to disable unless she wanted to train with them. Being its undisputed Mistress gave her WAY too many perks, more than what she had known what to do with, but hey she wasn't complaining. At leas the whole place wasn't crawling with Demons anymore except within those trial areas and Arrays, so she could take simple walks through it without getting nearly ambushed and mauled to death every five seconds. In addition to that, she had managed to figure out how she could teleport in and out of the Temen-Ni-Gru at will, so if she were at the opposite side of Lastation she could pretty much fast travel to the Tower then emerge from it back into SONY itself, with the added bonus of being able to teleport back to where she had once teleported from. Potential fast travel for the win, yay!

Oh yes, the whole multi-purpose facility thing had other things to it as well, since not only did it provide ample opportunities to study in peace and quiet, but it also provided great places for Noire to train with her powers and various weapons, like in the Trials of which she now had the option to choose to either have whatever one reward at a time from the Tower's vast reservoir, or she could choose to refrain and just keep playing the Trials over and over like taking on vs battles in fighting videogames. It helped that the Temen-Ni-Gru had many sophisticated yet complex systems which Noire was STILL trying to comprehend even till this day, ones she took GREAT pleasure in understanding. Plus, the Trials and Arrays had their own time dilation effects too, allowing her to maximise the potential for training here. She almost wanted to see if she could go back in time and thank the DPU who'd made this thing possible since it practically had been a goldmine of opportunities for her, the greatest reward for her out of the entire incident.

_… That didn't stop SOME people from trying to stick their noses where they don't belong in, but then again that's only natural. Like with the funerals held for those whom had perished from the Tower's emergence, not to mention that Basilicom desk receptionist…_

Upon hearing her Heroic Spirit's words, Noire couldn't help but agree with him as she recalled THAT side of things, something she had honestly been pretty disappointed in when she had found out, but then again, her people proved themselves with the events which had happened afterwards.

You see, things hadn't been all sunshine and rainbows with that thing however, though it wasn't like Noire hadn't been preparing for that very possibility. The emergence of the Temen-Ni-Gru had also sparked a small percentage of politicians who wanted to know the Tower's secrets to launch campaigns into those poverty-stricken lands to try and break into the Temen-Ni-Gru. They all did these things for varying reasons, such as money, power over their competitions, for political agendas like people from Avenir for example, Greed (the most prevalent one in her eyes), the list went on and on to the point where Noire had just stopped caring at this point. However, these attempts had been foiled before they could have ever truly kicked off the ground, as with the fact that both the Amulets now gave her permission to be the Tower's user/Mistress/mater whatever, it wasn't too difficult to keep them out. The Temen-Ni-Gru remained one of the strongest defences Lastation now had even with its damaged state. Plus, it had also helped that Lid, through some of her mentor's connections, had managed to secure support from the Spec Ops community to isolate the Temen-Ni-Gru and secure it as a Government facility, restricting anyone from entering without explicit permission from the CPU herself. Just pretty much made it all official and the like, shifting through all the political red tape and whatnot. Easily one of her favourite things, another being the looks on those old snobs' faces when she had announced the news, they had been GOLDEN.

Aside from that however, the blackette still managed to use the Tower's knowledge to better her Nation in other ways, without them being exposed to the practical treasure trove which lay within. For example, through her studying of the books in the Divine Library, Noire had found blueprints for weapons and armour, ones like the ones which the World Eaters Traitor Legion seemed to wield with ease, as well as a means of enhancing the body to superhuman levels enough to wield them effectively. These things she had submitted to the entirety of the Lastation armed forces, after a moment of deliberating with Lid, Siegfried and Rik (who'd surprisingly shown a significant amount of seriousness about it for once), her reasoning being that Lastation needed to cap on its Abnormal problem quickly, otherwise when they had the inevitable visitors from beyond Gamindustri, they likely wouldn't be able to hold out. After all, from what she had seen and learned about them, these Chaos Gods could create an innumerable amount of Demons from their very essence, potentially making them numberless, whilst they had countless human and non-human followers spread across the entire Galaxy. As such, the result was that new weapons and Amour were being developed by the Military with a proper amount of funds being poured into the project. One she had taken to calling the following:

Project: WARHAMMER.

This decision of hers had been a risky gamble, and Noire knew that fine well, not just from Siegfried AND Rik advising her about it but through her own experiences. She knew for a FACT that humanity had a tendency to destroy themselves if left unchecked, that lesson she had to learn the hard way. As such, giving them knowledge like this could essentially doom them if handled carefully, not to mention the things stored within the Temen-Ni-Gru… not everyone would be ready for such knowledge. Yet, here it was, laying within their hands for whatever they desired from it. That revelation had felt like a heavy chained necklace having been put on her shoulders, threatening to tear her head off if she ever behaved recklessly with it. For a time, Noire had wondered if sealing the Temen-Ni-Gru back up would have been an ideal alternative solution, worry filling her mind about potentially misusing this gift she had for sinister deeds. However, Siegfried and Rik had convinced her otherwise, reasoning that this was just like obtaining the powers of Ashbringer and the Devil Triger, she had showcased her resolve to protect her people back then, this would be no different. They believed she wouldn't let this kind of knowledge get over her head, for if she did have that potential then she likely would have been SWALLOWED by the power she possessed long ago.

Power can corrupt those who aren't mentally strong enough to wield it… something Noire had seen all too well.

Currently, the time was in the Afternoon, of which the blackette sat in her newly restored Office, doing the CPU Work she should have been doing such as signing documents and catching up upon anything she had missed. She'd taken to wearing the outfit which Lid had gifted her back during the Temen-Ni-Gru incident (kept her hair tin her in her signature Twin-tails with her blue and black ribbons though) after she had escaped the Leviathan upon her defeating Geronimo with her first true use of the Devil Trigger, even made a few copies of the same outfit since she liked it so much. She liked the class that it had, as well as how it seemed like it was fit for royalty, and since she herself WAS a CPU, pretty much royalty as well, it only fitted someone of her stature. Then, there was how the whole getup offered mobility in combat, making it function as both a fashion statement AND a combat choice.

As for her Office itself, she could not have been any more relieved about it. The room looked just like how it had always done, as if the events of the Temen-Ni-Gru Tower had never existed at all save for its silhouette outside her window. After everything blew over and repairs started getting underway, some of the helpers turned out to be the family of the receptionist whom had been ruthlessly butchered by the Demons when they'd ambushed her. and boy did they look like wrecks when she had first met them. They had looked lost, mechanical like they had their entire souls sucked out of them, something which honestly horrified Noire upon seeing the devastated looks in their eyes. She had seen it before of course, people whom had lost their loved ones like they had, but these people had seemed especially dejected.

Things only got worse from thereon in, though, as Noire soon found out. Apparently, upon her investigating the matter she had discovered that the Receptionist had been one of the prime supporters in her Faction, never believing for a second in the propaganda spread by Avenir's faction. Her family had been the same way, feeling that the Basilicom would have been the safest place for their little girl whom had only been 20 years old (yeah, she'd been dumbfounded at that). Her death alone wasn't the only thing which had devastated them, but it was also the fact that she had died at such a young age, she'd even had a potential boyfriend who'd wanted to take her out that night as a way to help her get over some family issues with her father. Issues which Noire found out would never get resolved now thanks to her demise. Her boyfriend had been so distraught by the loss of his girl, one whom he had wanted to spend his entire life with (one can guess what he meant by that) that he had committed suicide shortly after hearing of her death.

In the end, her family (after their funerals whom had been held close together to celebrate 'what could have been'), had decided to move out of Lastation due to it being too painful to remain here any longer, as it reminded them so much of their deceased daughter. It had been made all the worse when someone had gotten it out that Demons had butchered her WHILST in the Basilicom in an attempt to discredit Noire further. The family of course, didn't blame Noire for it, but that alone just made her feel even more guilty. They didn't blame her for their daughter's death, but she sure as hell did… and she wasn't the only one, since a portion of her support dropped over to the Avenir side because of this, making her return to the top of Lastation's hierarchy even more troublesome.

Aside from that depressing incident, Noire had been convinced by Siegfried to look on the brighter side of things, if not for her sake then for those whom had perished. With her control over the Temen-Ni-Gru, Noire could honestly live with the fact that it was a giant demonic hell tower which would never be opened ever again under her watch. What she COULDN'T allow was for more casualties to end up befalling her people by the Tower's hand, it had claimed a few lives already and despite that her leader self still remained convinced that it could still be of great use to her People.

Worst part of that was… that side of her was right.

This incident had taught Noire a valuable lesson though, one she would not be forgetting any time soon, and that was at this point there will be others who will try to bring the forces of the Chaos Gods into Lastation, probably the other Nations too. There WERE four Chaos Gods after all, and one of them already had their forces invade Gamindustri. However, as inevitable be, Noire will be damned if she didn't prepare for it beforehand, the blackette's eyes hardening when she thought this. Those Slaaneshi Demons would not step ONE foot onto her precious nation, if she could help it, that had been something the black-haired Goddess had vowed to herself upon her return to Gamindustri… something she'd only managed to accomplish by a hair's breadth, as the portal had immediately closed behind her upon re-entry.

One of the closest life-or-death experiences she'd ever had in her lifetime.

'… Huh?' When she reached for some more paperwork to fulfil, she felt nothing but the material her Desk was made from. She even searched around using her hand to feel out any extra documents like a blind person using touch to move along a wall. 'What the hell, where's all my work documents? I'm sure I had some more…' she wondered mentally in bewilderment. Looking down at her Desk, Noire found no more documents on the unfulfilled section, with a series of stacked signed ones to her left side, causing her to blink owlishly in a moment of befuddlement. Eventually however, she managed to realize the situation, that she had already completed her work quota for the day, though she still had some disbelief over it. 'Have I finished my work that quickly? That's strange, I usually have more to do than that…' she wondered whilst standing up from her Desk and pushing her Chair behind her with her legs, taking a moment to stretch her arms above her head. "Oh well, I guess I have the rest of the afternoon free… don't think I have anything else to do today other than that paperwork."

Let it be said that despite her words just now, Noire wasn't someone who didn't double check things, so after an hour's worth of time going through her documents and schedule plans, she truly DIDN'T have anything else on today. This meant that the afternoon would be one of the few ones she had completely to herself, though Noire DID have something she wanted to check out recently. 'Well, I guess a Trip to the Temen-Ni-Gru is in order…' she thought to herself, closing her eyes and mentally focusing. She projected her will deep within herself, where she found a 'Mark' which had been branded onto her very being as the Master of the Demon Tower within her Nation's Capital. By the time she found it within herself, the mark began to glow a bright crimson colour with matching energy sparks dancing across it, moments later her body suddenly vanishing from her Office in a flash of red.

What she DIDN'T notice was her door beginning to slide open.

"Lady Noire, I have…"

From behind the door, someone passed through with some documents in hand, soon closing the door behind them afterwards Turned out, the person themselves got revealed to be a young woman… one of some boyish charms at that. She had some short silver hair which reached the bottom of her chin which had been styled in a boyish cut. She also possessed cobalt blue eyes which held an intelligence to them which could potentially ensnare those who weren't weary enough, not to mention that they held in them something rather… sinister beneath the surface. For dresswear, the woman wore a black suit like outfit with a blue tie and black shorts instead of pants. Her suit sported a waistcoat of matching design choices to her suit itself splitting into two tails afterwards whilst beneath her overcoat she wore a smart white dress shirt and blue tie. Her legwear consisted of below the knee black socks and black shoes with blue line designs and silver circles in the center.

At first, she had been looking down at the documents she had brought up to the CPU for verification, until she looked up upon noticing a lack of reaction from her. That allowed the woman to see that Noire wasn't in the area no more, but she DID notice the lack of unfinished documents on her Desk, prompting the woman to roll her eyes and smile to herself. "Really, Noire. You're getting this much done… Well, I'll leave these here for now, she'll get them done tomorrow knowing her…" she mused, putting the documents on her desk and then leaving the Office.

Within the underground ruined city beneath the Temen-Ni-Gru, A flash of red appeared as Noire appeared within the ruined city. She had intentions in coming here, as whilst the Tower itself turned out to be quite spacious, what with all its various Arrays which transported people throughout, the space best suited for her current purposes turned out to be in the underground depths, hence why she had teleported here. It didn't help so much that each of those Arrays transported victims into spaces filled to the BRIM with powerful Demons, Demons she herself wasn't strong enough to defeat at this current time. In fact, even if she were to eventually allow people into the Temen-Ni-Gru (although there's got to be STRICT regulation check-ups imposed in that situation), there would be ZERO chance of her allowing anyone down here. Not only was it an unsafe area, but there were things down her she never wanted anyone else to discover.

Her hair fluttered gently from the breeze generated by the teleportation, but otherwise it settled down quite nicely. Her eyes, which had been closed from the teleportation, slowly opened and allowed her to survey the surrounding area, familiarising herself with the ruined city and its features. Features such as the massive lake spreading out through the underground chamber, the waterfall covering the cave which led to the former Lair of Nevan the Lightning Witch, the works. The smells of the water filled her nostrils even as she remained idle, the sounds of rushing water filling her ears. Both those things worked in harmonious tandem, and in light of these sensations Noire couldn't help but let out a small, soft and contented sigh from her lips. She closed her eyes whilst doing this, fully embracing the sensations she was getting bombarded by, something she hadn't expected as since the incident with the Temen-Ni-Gru this was the first time that she had taken the time to appreciate all this. Though, then again back then her priorities were… a little bit different. 'Hmph, at the time, I never thought I'd be treating this sight as a common occurrence…' the blackette remarked to herself as she strode on forth, beginning her trek towards her destination without a squint of fear in her steps. Most of this had been to do with how she had already eliminated the Demons within the Temen-Ni-Gru, making it a cinch to traverse it now.

"Well, at least the teleportation works down here. Part of me worried that it wouldn't considering the contents. Since I'm here then, I might as well check on it before getting some training done today…" The blackette mused as she moved through the Waterfall and traversed the cave systems.

After a short while, Noire found herself at the entrance to Nevan's former Lair, unrestricted thanks to her having cleared the place of the rubble a fair amount of time ago. She wasn't someone whom had zero experience in housecleaning after all, Lastation could only do everything. Now that she had found herself here, Noire closed her eyes and expanded her senses, trying to feel out the contents which lay within… only to shoot them open a mere MILLISECOND later when her senses nearly got overpowered by the COLLOSSAL amount of power held behind this door. A short, light gasp escaped her lips, before her mouth closed into a pursed expression as her eyes narrowed sharply, almost enough to resemble the slits of her Devil Trigger state. 'So… looks like the sword's power has significantly recovered…' she thought whilst clenching her fists at her sides.

Before her was something which she dared not get too close too, otherwise she feared wat might end up happening to her. Fears which had been confirmed by her Heroic Spirit as well as her Appetite Demon. Behind this door, there lay the sword which Vicious had coveted, half unsealed thanks to one of the amulets having been used on it, so its power ended up leaking out into its surroundings. She bet that if she went in there, the sheer amount of Demonic Power polluting the surroundings would have been absolutely massive, twisting and warping everything it touched. Even just standing here made her instincts go off like absolute crazy, the sensation of death completely dominating the space behind the door.

_… Now you can see why I told you to put this blade in an isolated section of the Tower, Noire. Even if you're just standing here, the reason' practically staring at you dead in the face. Even with the Sealing Arrays we worked together to construct around the room, the power held within is this massive. A DPU's power is NOTHING like that of a Demon's, which is largely regarded as the reason for their sharp differences in power. If a Demon's power was wild and primal, then a DPU's is like chaos incarnate, ferocious, untameable and able to destroy anything which it touches. Fortunately, this sword which has since recovered the power it had lost from Vicious' hands was put down here, otherwise the energy within would have spilled over onto the rest of the entire city… I don't need to tell you what kind of horrors that would bring, do I?…_

No, he didn't, and Noire could NOT have been any happier that she had listened to his words when she had. Back then, she and him had been debating on what to do with the sword she had taken as spoils of war back to her home world of Gamindustri, and it had not been a calm one. On one side, Noire herself had wanted to destroy the weapon once and for all, so nobody could ever be tempted to try and take it for their own such as Arkham himself. She knew that Lid had taken care of him even before the official statements rolled in, since Lid would have taken care of him right after he had been cast out of the Demon World by herself and Vicious. But still, if she had learned ANYTHING, it was that power can attract the most heinous of souls to it, not even the most righteous of hearts could be risked turning corrupted in their desires because of this power, so Noire's desire to destroy the weapon wasn't that unfounded. However, Siegfried had quickly reminded her that destroying that sword right now would have been similar to destroying a fire hydrant filled with water. The power held within that blade, even at 50%, rivalled that of a Continent Class DPU, and should Vicious have fully unsealed it he would have had the power of a Multi-Continent Class. Therefore, the blade's destruction would have caused all that power to spill out everywhere, possibly reaching the other Nations not just her own. In the end, Noire had chosen to not risk it despite her reservations about keeping the blade around, instead having chosen these depths to store the sword away and placed several restrictive Arrays on it, which Siegfried had recommended to her from her Wardcraft studies.

A wise decision on her part, as even now the Arrays, despite being at least University Class, just BARELY held the sword's half-unsealed power at bay.

'There's no other alternative solution right now, and its not like Rik wants to eat the sword any time soon…' Noire remarked, getting a hum of agreement from the Heroic Spirit. Now Rik as an Appetite Demon didn't mind necessarily consuming the Souls of other beings. Souls to him, were energy, and energy itself was even easier for him to devour. One might even call him a Glutton when it came to his appetite for feasting, something which all Appetite Demons tended to be like. When it concerned that sword, however, Rik hadn't wanted to go anywhere NEAR it even with a 20-foot pole, for the chaotic instability that Power currently showed was enough to suppress his hunger for it. At least until the time came when he was strong enough to devour it and NOT get absolutely ripped asunder from the inside out. The same could be said for Noire as well, as a CPU she wasn't someone with a good body for Demonic Power to Inhabit, well, Demonic Power without anything to control it. The energy itself could be considered TOXIC for anything not Demonic in nature, but as long there was a Soul or something controlling it the damage could be minimalised. But with this thing, its control was lacklustre at best, so Noire would have had to tame it somehow if she wanted to control the sword and use it for herself, but right now she wasn't strong enough. Not even close would be a more accurate description there.

_… For now, you should focus on getting your afternoon training accomplished. Once you are strong enough to withstand the ambient Demonic Power, you will be able to absorb the Sword's Soul Fragment which would then fuse with the Demonic Power you already possess, allowing you to utilize a weapon originally belonging to a Multi-Continent Class DPU. For now, head back to the ruined city where you teleported to earlier, then try to enter the Dreamworld. There are some things we need to discuss face to face…_

Upon hearing those words, Noire wouldn't admit it to anyone but her interest got piqued with Siegfried's words as his presence faded back into the depths of her mind. Judging by what he had said, it looked like some developments had been recorded for her, but their nature demanded that he say them to her face to face instead of just talking through their connection. 'Hmmm, wonder what's got Siegfried acting this way… Its not like the connection's bad or something, it still feels pretty solid to me. Well, not like standing here's going to solve any of my problems or answer any of my questions. I'll play along for now then. Whatever he has for me better be good…'

After a short while, Noire found herself at the entrance to Nevan's former Lair, unrestricted thanks to her having cleared the place of the rubble a fair amount of time ago. She wasn't someone whom had zero experience in housecleaning after all, Lastation could only do everything. Now that she had found herself here, Noire closed her eyes and expanded her senses, trying to feel out the contents which lay within… only to shoot them open a mere MILLISECOND later when her senses nearly got overpowered by the COLLOSSAL amount of power held behind this door. A short, light gasp escaped her lips, before her mouth closed into a pursed expression as her eyes narrowed sharply, almost enough to resemble the slits of her Devil Trigger state. 'So… looks like the sword's power has significantly recovered…' she thought whilst clenching her fists at her sides.

Before her was something which she dared not get too close too, otherwise she feared wat might end up happening to her. Fears which had been confirmed by her Heroic Spirit as well as her Appetite Demon. Behind this door, there lay the sword which Vicious had coveted, half unsealed thanks to one of the amulets having been used on it, so its power ended up leaking out into its surroundings. She bet that if she went in there, the sheer amount of Demonic Power polluting the surroundings would have been absolutely massive, twisting and warping everything it touched. Even just standing here made her instincts go off like absolute crazy, the sensation of death completely dominating the space behind the door.

_… Now you can see why I told you to put this blade in an isolated section of the Tower, Noire. Even if you're just standing here, the reason' practically staring at you dead in the face. Even with the Sealing Arrays we worked together to construct around the room, the power held within is this massive. A DPU's power is NOTHING like that of a Demon's, which is largely regarded as the reason for their sharp differences in power. If a Demon's power was wild and primal, then a DPU's is like chaos incarnate, ferocious, untameable and able to destroy anything which it touches. Fortunately, this sword which has since recovered the power it had lost from Vicious' hands was put down here, otherwise the energy within would have spilled over onto the rest of the entire city… I don't need to tell you what kind of horrors that would bring, do I?…_

No, he didn't, and Noire could NOT have been any happier that she had listened to his words when she had. Back then, she and him had been debating on what to do with the sword she had taken as spoils of war back to her home world of Gamindustri, and it had not been a calm one. On one side, Noire herself had wanted to destroy the weapon once and for all, so nobody could ever be tempted to try and take it for their own such as Arkham himself. She knew that Lid had taken care of him even before the official statements rolled in, since Lid would have taken care of him right after he had been cast out of the Demon World by herself and Vicious. But still, if she had learned ANYTHING, it was that power can attract the most heinous of souls to it, not even the most righteous of hearts could be risked turning corrupted in their desires because of this power, so Noire's desire to destroy the weapon wasn't that unfounded.

However, Siegfried had quickly reminded her that destroying that sword right now would have been similar to destroying a fire hydrant filled with water. The power held within that blade, even at 50%, rivalled that of a Continent Class DPU, and should Vicious have fully unsealed it he would have had the power of a Multi-Continent Class. Therefore, the blade's destruction would have caused all that power to spill out everywhere, possibly reaching the other Nations not just her own. In the end, Noire had chosen to not risk it despite her reservations about keeping the blade around, instead having chosen these depths to store the sword away and placed several restrictive Arrays on it, which Siegfried had recommended to her from her Wardcraft studies.

A wise decision on her part, as even now the Arrays, despite being at least University Class, just BARELY held the sword's half-unsealed power at bay.

'There's no other alternative solution right now, and its not like Rik wants to eat the sword any time soon…' Noire remarked, getting a hum of agreement from the Heroic Spirit. Now Rik as an Appetite Demon didn't mind necessarily consuming the Souls of other beings. Souls to him, were energy, and energy itself was even easier for him to devour. One might even call him a Glutton when it came to his appetite for feasting, something which all Appetite Demons tended to be like. When it concerned that sword, however, Rik hadn't wanted to go anywhere NEAR it even with a 20-foot pole, for the chaotic instability that Power currently showed was enough to suppress his hunger for it. At least until the time came when he was strong enough to devour it and NOT get absolutely ripped asunder from the inside out.

The same could be said for Noire as well, as a CPU she wasn't someone with a good body for Demonic Power to Inhabit, well, Demonic Power without anything to control it. The energy itself could be considered TOXIC for anything not Demonic in nature, but as long there was a Soul or something controlling it the damage could be minimalised. But with this thing, its control was lacklustre at best, so Noire would have had to tame it somehow if she wanted to control the sword and use it for herself, but right now she wasn't strong enough. Not even close would be a more accurate description there.

_… For now, you should focus on getting your afternoon training accomplished. Once you are strong enough to withstand the ambient Demonic Power, you will be able to absorb the Sword's Soul Fragment which would then fuse with the Demonic Power you already possess, allowing you to utilize a weapon originally belonging to a Multi-Continent Class DPU. For now, head back to the ruined city where you teleported to earlier, then try to enter the Dreamworld. There are some things we need to discuss face to face…_

Upon hearing those words, Noire wouldn't admit it to anyone but her interest got piqued with Siegfried's words as his presence faded back into the depths of her mind. Judging by what he had said, it looked like some developments had been recorded for her, but their nature demanded that he say them to her face to face instead of just talking through their connection. 'Hmmm, wonder what's got Siegfried acting this way… Its not like the connection's bad or something, it still feels pretty solid to me. Well, not like standing here's going to solve any of my problems or answer any of my questions. I'll play along for now then. Whatever he has for me better be good…'

With that mentally declared, Noire left the entrance to Nevan's Lair, the Soap Opera house if one had forgotten, and headed back towards the ruined underground city. Unbeknownst to Noire however, if one looked at her shadow as she left the area, one would have seen it… shift, and not in a natural way as it twisted around itself. In seconds, her shadow had morphed from something human… to something more reptilian, draconic, with a single crimson eye opening up as it looked right at her back, before the transformation reversed back into a normal shadow.

By the time that she returned to the ruined city, Noire sat down on a tall pillar, looking out into the ocean for a bit. She did this so she could memorise the sights for a little longer, until she finally had enough and fell back down onto her back, letting her twin tails spread out on top of the Pillar. Now that she thought about it, this would mark the first time she had entered that Dreamworld since the Vicious Incident had been settled, which made her wonder somewhat wat it would look like now. 'Business with Siegfried aside, I wonder if my Dreamworld is similar to how other Heroic Spirits communicate with their hosts…' she wondered idly, before dismissing such things from her thought process. This wasn't the time to get lost in idle, useless monologuing, she had things that she needed to attend to like this business with Siegfried. With that, Noire took a deep breath, exhaling a couple seconds later, then closed her eyes, taking a deep sigh as she felt herself get pulled out from the realm of the awake into the blissful land of dreams.

Opening her eyes once more, Noire blinked when she found herself inside the Throne Room of a Castle, one where she could see Siegfried sitting patiently on the Throne. The man leaned on one elbow with the attached hand clenched into a fist which he placed his tilted head on, his stare blank as he eyed the blackette before him. This sight of course, wasn't anything new to Noire, so she just got down to business. "So then…" she began, putting a hand on her hip and placing more weight on her left leg as she looked towards her mentor. Just by seeing his face at that moment told her just how serious whatever he wanted to talk to her about was, as whilst normally Siegfried held a serious face mot the time, she could sense a powerful gravity about him right now. "What's so important that I'd need to come down here instead of just talking through the connection between us?" she questioned at last, keeping her gaze focused on him.

In response to his question, Siegfried lifted his head from his hand, slowly placing his hands on his Throne. He then used them as leverage to pull himself off it and into a standing position, all before starting his trek down towards her. "Noire. Remember when we talked about the Bottlenecks?" he questioned, getting a nod from her as he held his hand out, summoning a floating holographic version of Balmung, the Noble Phantasm which connected the two of them together. The hologram however, looked to be much taller than the real thing, at least taller than Noire herself as it circled around between them at a diagonal angle. Its form bathed itself in a brilliant, glistening blue aura which radiated a sense of warmth, comfort and brilliant determination, like this thing knew its true purpose and owned up to it. Also, was it just her, or was there something… else about it? She didn't know why, but it felt like there was something different to it, though she didn't have time to contemplate as Siegfried spoke once more whilst gesturing to the hologram. "Well, it looks like during our final battle with Vicious the last Bottleneck has been destroyed, raising your current aptitude with my Noble Phantasm too 90%." He told her.

At hearing that, Noire's eyes shot wide open, stunned disbelief filling those crimson orbs of her whilst her brain struggled to process what he had told her. "Eh?! Really?!" she exclaimed. "Is that why I've been having those strange visions after everything went down?" What the blackette referred to by that was something which, in comparison to the situation within her Nation, she saw as trivial. However, it still caused her no small amounts of annoyance, and those visions themselves kept Noire thinking about them for long periods after they had happened. Each vision had been just as difficult to decipher as the last, whilst having some similarities to the ones she'd get randomly like the one after defeating Wolvrik or the one after seeing that receptionist's corpse. They had started happening not long after the whole incident with the Temen-Ni-Gru, and sometimes they even took over her dreams leading to a few sleepless nights. Fortunately, she had lots of coffee those days to keep herself awake, then she slept like a log after the day had been done, but that didn't mean she didn't want to know what the heck was up with those. "I REALLY hope it is… Those visions have been getting close to driving me bonkers, and I'm NOT talking about the Neptune kind."

"A relief for all of us, I believe, although the opposite is hardly fitting either." Siegfried remarked in agreement with a matching nod, before his gaze sharpened as he gazed down at the Holographic Balmung. "However, to answer your questions, it would be best if the source of all this commotion answers them for you. He's one of the laziest of the tenants within your soul, which is why your only hearing of him now. I had to even resort to making an alliance with Rik just to get him to talk to you now…" he explained, a weary sigh escaping his lips when he thought of the… stuff, he had to do in order to arrange for this meeting between Noire herself and THIS guy. He wasn't the only one with this mindset, as even Rik himself despite him being an annoying as hell Appetite Demon, found this guy to be utterly exhausting to negotiate with.

If they thought NOIRE had been arrogant and tyrannical back in the day, then THIS guy practically made them choose her to talk to in comparison.

"Huh? Wait, are you…?"

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA, NOT MY FAULT YOU TWO SHIT SO BAD!"

Just as she tried to say something, Noire gasped, her eyes widening than what they should physically allow for her before she quickly covered her ears. Even so, a ringing sound kept occurring within her brain as a loud, booming voice exploded into the area like a massive earthquake shaking the entire planet. Raw power, primal and savage not unlike that of a DPU's Demonic Power could be felt from the voice's presence, as to their right a surge of heat rose from the throne room's floor. By the time the two looked at it, a surge of flames roared to life like the roar of a dragon, spiralling into a violent looking twister which just SCREAMED malice and destruction, rising up till it towered over the two of them, reaching at least 20 feet in height. From the blazing inferno before them, the entire surroundings began to heat up like they were in the centre of a volcano, everything within their vicinity beginning to melt down into sludge and evaporate at a rapid pace. Streams of smoke rose all around them, forcing the two to cover their faces as if they too would have shared the same fate as their surroundings.

A moment later, the heat died down and both of them lowered their arms, only to come face to face with an entire plain instead of a castle around them. No walls, no corridors, no décor, no nothing, all of it had just simply… vanished, like it had never been there in the first place. Staring at the sight before her whilst Siegfried did his best to keep his composure (not succeeding for once given the multiple tic marks on his forehead, although one could understand his feelings given the situation), Noire could only gape at it all as she tried to take in the situation. 'Holy… everything's just gone…!' she thought in shock, and a little bit of fear though she'd take that to the grave with her if she had to. 'What the hell… WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED HERE?!'

"AHHHH, THAT FELT GOOD… THAT DAMN PIECE OF ROCK WAS JUST TOO SMALL FOR ME…"

Once again, Noire heard that loud, booming voice, only to her shock it sounded even LOUDER than it had before. In fact, she had never even HEARD of anything which had a volume as loud as this, not even Neptune or that brat from Lowee! She thought her eardrums would buckle under the voice's presence and burst if it spoke any louder, and if it were possible her instincts said that the voice seemed to speak in a normal level for it. As in, this wasn't the loudest that it could go… something which Noire did not even want to believe, but considering what she had seen so far, she couldn't really say no to the possibility anymore.

Eventually, after her body recovered from the ringing in her mind to allow her to hear herself think again, Noire looked towards the source of the voice, wondering what kind of creature could end up causing such an ear-shattering noise. Her eyes fell upon it, and when they did, she immediately wished she hadn't, for standing tall before her… was one of the HUGEST Dragons she had ever seen! If she were to try and gauge its height, then several dozen skyscrapers would fit the bill, whilst its length could allow it to sprawl out onto her Nation from one side of the Landmass to the other… and still have room left over. Not only that… but the entire creature seemed to have been born from flames themselves, for that was what made the majority of its body. The only thing which hadn't looked like it was made from brilliant orange flames were its eyes, eyes blazing a pure and hollow crimson colour whilst they leered down at them. Noire more importantly, like it were sizing her up or something along those lines.

She nearly gulped in absolute terror at the sight of it, but kept herself straight-faced regardless.

"HMMMM… SO THIS IS THE BRAT YOU CHOSE…? SHE REEKS OF FEAR, YET TRIES TO KEEP CALM REGARDLESS…"

The fiery dragon being spoke down towards them, glancing over at Siegfried idly whilst making its own analysis on Noire. The Dragon then resumed its gaze at her, peering down as if to pierce through every and any barrier she had set up around herself to peer into the depths of her soul. Even so however, Noire remained firm in returning the massive creature's gaze, resisting the urge to flinch with every fibre of her being since, in her mind, Dragons weren't the kind of creatures whom acknowledged weakness. In fact, the Ancient Dragons she had encountered in the past, even the other dragon type monsters, they too had moments where they treated those stronger than them with more caution, and showed more aggressive behaviour towards beings weaker than them which had served as the basis for this assumption…

Now that she thought about it, wasn't that so like Demons too?

"WELL, SHE JUST BARELY PASSES. SHE MAY HAVE MANAGED TOUNLOCK THE LAST BOTTLENECLK, THEREBY RELEASING ME, BUT SHE WILL DEFINITELY NEED THE TRAINING."

The Dragon being spoke, huffing after a moment of silence had passed between them. The Dragon then turned its head to the side, glancing over to the surroundings before it raised it's right claw arm (Noire noticing that the Dragon had more of a serpentine appearance than the typical ones she had seen) to point in that direction. When it did so, Noire's eyes widened when she saw what she could only describe as a massive dragon claw made from flames descend from the skies above, big enough to crush the rooftops of skyscrapers with relative ease. That claw then fell onto a certain spot of land in the Dreamworld, before it flew back towards them and deposited something which it had picked up for its maker before vanishing, revealing it to be the Appetite Demon known as Rik.

"Ugh! Damnit, what the hell, man…? Could you have just asked me to come here or something…?" the Appetite Demon remarked, rubbing the back of his head whilst his body regenerated from countless burns on his body. The burns which had been inflicted from the close contact with those pure draconian flames emitted by the Dragon Claw, by the way. Upon looking up and seeing the cause of said claw, his eyes widened, and his skin lost all colour, and in the end, he quickly changed his tune in the presence of this Dragon. It almost looked like he were a child having been caught by his parent doing something he shouldn't, thus got to preparing for a vicious scolding which could potentially traumatize him for a lifetime. "I-I-I beg your forgiveness, sir! A thousand apologies!" he bellowed, falling onto one knee and lowering his madly sweating head before the creature to Noire's dismay.

'Even RIK is terrified by this thing?! Just what the heck is it?!' she could only think to herself, absolutely befuddled at what was happening before her right now. The frustration building within her torso WOULD have normally caused her to lash out at this point so some answers could be made but considering the scene before her Noire felt it wise to NOT do that. Especially if she wanted to live through this encounter. Apparently, the dragon before her noticed her feelings or had predicted them, for it rolled its eyes before glancing at the other two residents of the Dreamworld.

"YOU TWO REALLY DIDN'T TELL HER ABOUT ME, HUH? #SIGH# VERY WELL, LOOKS LIKE I GOTTA PICK UP YOUR SLACK. HOWEVER, THIS FORM IS NOT SUITED TO SOMETHING LIKE THAT, SO…"

At first, the Dragon snorted in annoyance towards the other two residence, causing one of them to shudder (Siegfried) and the other to hear the chimes of church bells like the ones rung at a funeral (Rik). It seemingly didn't like something that they had done, but ignored it in favour of letting its fiery form become a twister once again, pulling its massive body into the flames as if sucking up some spaghetti. This took only a couple seconds, something which stunned her thanks to how large that body had really been, before the twister began to… shrink? Yeah, it began shrinking down to their levels, soon rivalling herself, Siegfried and Rik in height. The Twister then dispersed in a showy flash of embers, revealing the contents within it…

And if she had been shocked before, Noire found herself becoming stunned into silence now. For standing before her, was one of the most masculine men she had ever seen. The man before her looked to be in his twenties, standing before her with the pride and dignity of a Dragon, an emperor, or even both. There was this royal feeling about him, what with how he wore these pure white robes which looked like some sort of martial arts disciple. The robes themselves consisted of a pair of shin high boots, large pants strapped behind a long waist coat, and some upper clothing which looked similar to some kind of gown. His hair looked long, reaching his shoulders with a dark brownish colour, as well as matching eyes. He had strong, chiselled features of masculinity as well as from seemingly countless real-life experiences. His physique reminded her of a strong bodybuilder, yet also some sort of warrior who'd fought on the front lines.

Needless to say, she had never seen someone like this before.

Looking down at himself, the man before her gazed at his left arm first, then his right and lastly at the rest of his body. All before nodding to himself in satisfaction. "Hmph, this will do nicely…" he remarked. "Not as powerful as I once was, but this is better than I had anticipated…" his murmurings got drawn out for a moment or two, before he remembered that he wasn't exactly alone and looked back to the onlookers. "Oh yeah, you three. Well, let's begin with introductions, shall we? Well, I am known by many names, the legends surrounding THAT guy…" he began, gesturing towards Siegfried. "Have garnered me the name Fafnir, Evil Dragon Phenomenon or just Evil Dragon. He's pretty much part of me now thanks to bathing in my blood and eating parts of me, the glutton that he is…"

"I never did acquire all of your power back then, though. Though it had been enough to protect my people, I couldn't help but think that there had been more to your tale initially, Fafnir." The Heroic Spirit noted, frowning to himself as old memories got brought back to his mind. Memories of the time which had made him as famous as he had been in those days, the time responsible for his clearance to becoming a Heroic Spirit upon death. "I had suspected that to be the case ever since I defeated you, for it had never felt like a true victory back then and more like a half victory at best." He explained, garnering attention from the other two occupants of this plain. For someone like Siegfried to mention that, it must have been a huge deal to him. Though since the legends surrounding him never spoke of that, the two of them assumed he had taken that secret to his grave with him back when he had been alive.

Something which the man before them huffed at once again, though this time there was more confirmation in it than actual mockery. "Of course, there was more to it, there was absolutely ZERO chance that you could gain ever BIT of the power I had amassed just by eating me, human, or should I say Heroic Spirit now? Meh, they're all the same to me." He remarked. "You hadn't even gained 40% of my power, though then again if I had been at full strength you would have been butchered before you would even have realized I was in the vicinity, as I've killed and fought WAY worse things than you humans. I was just… a bit inconvenienced back then, is all, which was why you got the power you did. Though as a price, my Soul transferred itself into your Noble Phantasm through the blood staining it before it got cleaned by your staff. Been here ever since, but enough of that, I'm known by many names, but I'd prefer my real name if you would be so kind. The name I was born with, that I used to climb the power ladder of my world: I am Jiang Chen, the once human turned Dragon Marked War God."

… Dragon Marked… War God…

Just by hearing that name alone, Noire got some major cold chills which ran up and down her spine. Similar to a panicked crowd on a frenzy as they tried to flee a zombie invasion or something. A large surge of nervousness and fear welled up inside her at the name, for it sparked images inside of her mind, ones of countless people being butchered, slaughtered in all kinds of nasty, grizzly ways which could have rivalled the brutality she had seen back when the Demons invaded Leanbox's Basilicom. Not only that, but there came a not-so-insignificant amount of confusion about the name as well, what kind of name was that? What was a Dragon Marked War God? It sounded quite powerful to her, like some kind of domineering, almost tyrannical existence which trampled over everything in its way… wow, the more she thought about it, the more wary of the man named Jiang Chen before her Noire became. "Nice to… meet you, then Jiang Chen…" she eventually remarked whilst some of her inner emotions trickled into her voice like drips of water falling out an overflowing sink.

"In essence, Noire, Jiang Chen here was originally a human back from the DPU Era the same as myself, however he comes from an alternate world compared to our own where only the strong survive, having managed to obtain the power to become what is known as a 'True Dragon', a being with unimaginable power. Power which could very well have contested with the DPUs in terms of sheer physical ability. Calling him a Dragion God is also not unfeasible due to the power that he once possessed. Although I am unsure as to how he had been reduced to the state he had been in when I had slain him myself." He explained, before shaking his head at her. "Do not be worried, Noire, for Jiang Chen is just as connected to you as myself and Rik." Siegfried informed her, getting Noire's attention as she shifted her head to look at him. Without waiting for the white robed man's response, he continued. "That last bottleneck was to keep him from awakening, but now that he has his situation is tied with us to yourself. Harming you will only be detrimental to us in the long run." He explained, causing Jiang Chen to roll his eyes, though the Heroic Spirit ignored that. "In any case, now that the bottlenecks have been cleared, it will not be long before you will be able to fully master Balmung's power. You should focus on that for the time being, then perhaps move on to other matters…"

As Siegfried explained this, the white robed man shook his head at him with a disappointed sound escaping his lips. "Really, you think that, with me around, things won't change all that much? I'm disappointed with you…" With his gaze, Jiang Chen saw past her façade of calmness whilst he had spoken and couldn't help the bloodthirsty smirk which pulled itself onto his lips afterwards, as if his mouth had rope attached to it. "It's of no surprise to me, your reaction that is. My reputation may not be known to those of Gamindustri, but it seems to proceed me regardless. Still, now that you've awoken me, there are some things we need to discuss…" The man then raised his right hand after taking another pause in his speech. "Like for example, how to appropriately use your inner Dragon, cause I've seen the memories of your battles, and the use of your Dragonblood Form is ABYSSMAL. We need to start you off from the ground up…"

Whilst saying all this, Jiang Chen suddenly stood before Noire after she blinked a single time, causing her to gasp. Before she could take a single step backwards however, the man cupped her chin in his right hand and pulled her face close to his own, just stopping short of kissing her. Her eyes and his remained locked together, one with shock and nervousness whilst the other remained focused and blank, almost like they were searching for something. It soon became apparent that he had found what he had been seeking, for Jiang Chen pulled back with his eyes closed and a nod of seemingly satisfaction. "Looks like you indeed meet the requirements for it, you haven't cultivated anything before so even if you have other powers at your disposal, you'd actually be no different than a genius of my world just starting on the cultivation path. Plus, you have an affinity for the dragon, thus, you have all that you will need for this…"

"Eh? What do you…?"

Noire tried to ask him what he meant by that, but she didn't get much of an answer from him. What she DID get however, just before she found herself being ejected from the Dreamworld, was the following whilst he pushed her backwards. "Everything shall be made clear to you during your training, which will start tomorrow. Be warned, for once you step on this path, there's no going back, though that shouldn't be a problem for one with resolve like you. Now, head back to your home and rest, if you thought Siegfried and Rik were hard teachers, you've never seen anything yet…"

* * *

**Chapter end!**

**Whelp, here it is guys, the Last chapter of OEG:ABHA, after this one, we can finally move on with the main storyline with the next arc being the Spec Ops Exam, then a bit of a wind down before we FINALLY advance to the Lowee Arc! I've been deliberating what to pull off to keep the story fresh and interesting, and I think you all may like what I have in store for THAT can of worms. I've been hinting it throughout the main storyline, but nobody seems to have noticed it. Oh well, just have to wait and see, won't we guys? **

**Oh yeah, regarding Jiang Chen, he's the protagonist of a wuxia called Dragon Marked War God, a True Dragon which in that fic is one hell of a beast. Its a godly tier existence and in this case he is truly able to contend with the DPUs... well, at least back when the DPUs ruled Gamindusri with an iron fist. If you want to know how strong he is, well, lets just say Siegfried and Rik are terrified of him for good reason, cause he could stomp on most of the heroic spirits through sheer brute force ALONE. Now that he's been released from Balmung and put into Noire's being like Siegfried and Rik before him, he's going to be giving our beloved Tsundere one MASSIVE overhaul in terms of combat ability, specifically for the dragon side of her. Remember, I've been hinting at it throughout this side story, but Noire has three sides to her now: the Goddess, the Devil and the Dragon. The Goddess side of her focuses on light and highspeed movement, whilst the Dragon will focus in technique and physical ability, with the Devil side focusing on power versatility. In essence, one could end up calling her a Tribrid or something along those lines, with her future potential being practically boundless. If you all want to be clued in on what she may be able to do in the future, I suggest giving it a read, although you should prepare yourself for it with the youtube video 'Dragon Marked War God: is it worth reading' by Shiro the Hero. He explains what the story is basically about without spoiling anything, but its a good way to prep yourself before getting into it. **

**Anyways, its been a trilling ride AND a great learning experience. Once this chapter goes up, this side story will be complete and I'll either focus on the main story some more, or I could start a new one, since these last few chapters were getting harder to finish due to lack of proper inspiration and drive. I already have a few ideas in mind, though they will definitely NOT be inferior to OEG in terms of writing. **

**Till then, stay awesome guys!**

**Peace Out!**


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